 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Pakistan, India In Tit-For-Tat Missile Tests
Islamabad (AFP) Oct 04, 2002 Nuclear neighbours Pakistan and India launched apparent tit-for-tat missile tests Friday, following a resurgence of high-stake tensions over Kashmir and less than a week before elections in Pakistan. The Indian test of a medium-range surface-to-air missile came some nine hours after Pakistan tested its own nuclear-capable medium-range ballistic missile. Islamabad then angrily accused India of fuelling an arms race, a charge New Delhi immediately called an "overreaction." Pakistan first test fired its home-grown Hatf-IV or Shaheen missile, with a range of up to 800 kilometres (500 miles), at 8:30 am (0230 GMT) in the country's south. India then tested its Akash missile, capable of travelling 25 kilometers (15 miles), off its east coast at 4:30 pm (1100 GMT), calling it a "routine" exercise. "We believe that India has done this to initiate an arms race which Pakistan has not at all indulged in," Information Minister Nisar Memon told "India appears to be accelerating the arms race, which is regrettable." New Delhi strongly refuted Pakistan's allegation, saying the two tests were not comparable. "This (the Akash missile) is only for air defence. How can it be compared to Shaheen?" India's defence ministry spokesman P.K. Bandopadhyay told AFP. "We have an integrated missile programme in system and it is being tested according to plan. It has no relation to Shaheen. Pakistan's reaction is an overreaction. In no way is it an act of provocation or an arms race."
|
