ISLAMABAD, 10 December 2006 — Pakistan successfully test-fired a new version of its short-range nuclear-capable missile yesterday, the third in as many weeks, a military statement said. The ballistic missile Hatf III (Ghaznavi) — launched from an undisclosed location — has a range of 290 km and hit its target, the statement said.
“The Pakistan Army’s Strategic Force Command (ASFC) today conducted a successful launch of the short-range ballistic missile Hatf-III (Ghaznavi),” it said in a statement.
The military described the launch of three ballistic missiles in the past three weeks as part of the training exercises of the ASFC.
Pakistan troops conducted “successful” launches of the Ghauri and Shaheen-1 ballistic missiles last month.
Yesterday’s launch, “came at the culmination phase of the training exercise, which validated the operational readiness of the Strategic Missile Group (SMG) equipped with Ghaznavi missiles,” the statement said.
SMG is a unit that handles the nuclear capable missiles. The Ghaznavi ballistic missile system was handed over to the army strategic force command a few years ago, it said.
Chief of air staff, Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed, who witnessed the launch, hailed the “excellent standards achieved during the tactical and the technical phases of the training, which was reflected in the successful launch and the accuracy of the missile on impact,” the statement said.
“Pakistan can be justifiably proud of its defense capability and the reliability of its nuclear deterrence,” he added.
He appreciated the efforts of Pakistani engineers, “whose dedication and professionalism had made it possible for Pakistan to fully consolidate and operationalize its nuclear capability in the last seven years.”
South Asian rivals Pakistan and India have routinely conducted missile tests since carrying out tit-for-tat nuclear detonations in May 1998.
Pakistan is a key ally of the United States in its attempts to combat terrorism, and the test came a day after the US House of Representatives approved legislation allowing US shipments of civilian nuclear fuel to Pakistan’s neighboring, nuclear-armed rival,
India. Critics say the nuclear deal between Washington and New Delhi could trigger an arms race in South Asia.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately comment on US lawmakers’ approval of the India deal. Top Indian and Pakistani diplomats at a meeting in New Delhi last month agreed to create a panel to share intelligence on terrorism and move to cut the risk of nuclear weapon “accidents.”
The talks rekindled a peace process put on hold since July’s Bombay train bombings, in which 189 people died. Indian officials said Pakistan’s spy agency was linked to the blasts, a claim Pakistan denied.
They also agreed on the “early signing” of an agreement to reduce the risk of “accidents relating to nuclear weapons,” without giving a specific time frame. The two sides are to meet next in Islamabad in February.
Pakistan became a declared nuclear power on May 28, 1998, when it conducted underground nuclear tests in response to those carried out by India. It tested its first missile the same year.
Since then, Pakistan and India have conducted tit-for-tat tests as a show of their military power.
