ISLAMABAD, Feb 23: Pakistani officialdom is viewing aspersions being cast by the United States media over disbursements to Pakistan from the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) as political blackmail “through managed media leaks”.

Officials believed that the very timing of the media leak indicates that the US intends to apply pressure on Pakistan in view of the changing political scenario.

They fear that the blockage or drop in the assistance on the pretext of poor accounting, disputed expenses and suspicions about over billing can result in serious economic repercussions for the country.

The United States Defence Department disburses about $80 million to Pakistan from the CSF every month for the expenditure incurred by it on maintaining over 100,000 troops on the border.

A Washington Post report said Bush administration had started scrutinising Pakistan’s bills. Washington delayed payment of about $78 million of $360 million for the March-June 2007 quarter now working its way through the reimbursement process. Pakistan will receive only $282 million later this month.

Additional payment would follow once it provides more detailed accounting, WP quoted United States officials as having said.

The WP report had cautioned that the poor showing in the parliamentary election by the party of President Pervez Musharraf may make Congress look closer at all US financial assistance to the country.

The sources said the managed media leaks were an instru-ment of foreign policy and established practice in the United States to browbeat foreign governments.

Dismissing the United States allegations as illogical, the sources said it was not even fraction of the United States expenditure for keeping its troops in Afghanistan. The US spends about $14 billion a year for just 15,000 troops in Afghanistan. This is only the financial impact and doesn’t include the US casualty figure there.

Pakistani authorities realise that they had blundered while finalising procedure with the US.

“We should have instead fixed a ballpark figure,” a senior official said, adding such disputes could then have been avoided.

Foreign Office spokesman Muhammad Sadiq said if the assumption of political blackmail was accepted, were not the commitment of officials involved in leaking such stories to the media was “questionable”.