ISLAMABAD, 2 July 2004 — Pakistan plans to carry out another important missile test within two months and will not roll back its nuclear weapons program, President Pervez Musharraf said. In remarks to journalists late on Wednesday, Musharraf said there was no pressure on Pakistan from the United States to slow atomic arms development despite a proliferation scandal involving one of its top nuclear scientists.
“It is a joke,” Musharraf said, responding to a question about possible US pressure. “We are conducting a missile test every second day. I give you important news that within two months Pakistan will conduct a big missile test,” he said in remarks quoted by the Urdu-language Jang newspaper.
China’s Xinhua news agency quoted the president as saying Pakistan would conduct an important “nuclear” test, adding that he did not specify whether he meant a nuclear bomb or a missile.
But Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, who was with Musharraf when he made the remarks, said he clearly mentioned a missile test. “We are taking our nuclear program forward,” Musharraf added. “We will continue to manufacture nuclear (capable) missiles and it will be a madman who accuses me of rolling back the nuclear missile program.”
Military experts said the general’s comments were not new, but may have been aimed at hawks in government and the army who have accused him of going soft on India and bowing to US pressure on militancy.
Banned militant groups, some with links to Al-Qaeda, have been blamed for a recent spate of bomb attacks in the southern port city of Karachi, possibly a reflection of their fury over Musharraf’s support for the US war on terror. “When you have a regime of missile notification and everyone knows we have a robust nuclear program, I don’t see why we need this,” said Talat Masood, a retired general and commentator, referring to Musharraf’s remarks.
“People are more interested in progress on poverty. This is rhetoric meant for those who might try to subvert his program and also to counter the radical elements who have tried to project him as someone who has bowed to US pressure,” he said.
Pakistan has not conducted a nuclear test since May, 1998, when it carried out a series of experiments in response to tests by archrival India. Pakistan and India carry out fairly frequent missile tests. On June 4, Pakistan successfully test fired its nuclear-capable Ghauri missile, able to carry warheads 1,500 kilometers.
