The US embargo meant that we weren’t getting the F-16s for which we had already paid $500 million. Another instalment of $200 million was now due and if we stopped payments altogether, we would forfeit $150 million as fine. There was no clause in the agreement about any fine the suppliers would pay if Pakistan failed to get an exemption under Pressler, this being the one-sided agreement our officials had signed.
The ambassador visits the Pentagon where she is given “full protocol” and received by Deputy Assistant Secretary Carl Ford. The latter takes out a pad and says what we needed to do was simple arithmetic. If we didn’t make the payments we would lose the 150 million plus 30 million dollars as “administrative charges”. What on earth were those for? “This was the amount deducted from the down payment by (the Pakistani interlocutors).” The penny drops. This was the amount pocketed by the go-betweens, the deal-makers. Someone in PAF or the defence establishment would know. Who were the lucky guys?
