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Pakistan gets ready for possible missile test

Though the Clinton administration advised restraint to Pakistan, Islamabad has made preparations to test its missiles in response to India's Agni II ballistic missile test, press reports said today.

The decision on whether to respond in kind will be taken by the cabinet defence committee, due to meet when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief returns from Lahore tomorrow or on Thursday, Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz was quoted as saying.

''We are preparing an agenda for the meeting which will not only weigh all the available options but also consider all aspects before test firing one or two missiles -- Shaheen or Ghauri,'' Aziz told The News daily.

Islamabad's Ausaf daily reported that the International Monetary Fund has indicated to Pakistani authorities that it would stop its bail-out plan for Pakistan if the country tested a missile in response to India's Agni II launch.

The Clinton administration had advised restraint to Pakistan in the wake of India's Agni missile test and urged Islamabad to abandon its reported decision to respond with a missile test of its own.

A state department official, while commenting on media reports from Islamabad, suggesting that Pakistan would go ahead with the test within a couple of days, said the United States was keen on avoiding a cycle of action and reaction in the sphere of weapons of mass destruction in the South Asian region.

According to media reports, Pakistan has three missiles ready for the test -- the Ghauri-II (with a range of 2,000 km), the Shaheen-I (750 km) and Shaheen-II (2,300 km). However, the US has no information when Pakistan would conduct the test.

Last year on April 6, Pakistan test-fired the Ghauri-I missile with a range of 1,500 km.

Meanwhile, Pakistan army chief General Pervez Musharaf says Pakistan should respond to India's Agni II missile test, but left the decision to the government.

''India should know Pakistan has a capability to respond,'' he said, lecturing the local English Speaking Union on the country's security environment.

''We are ready and we can do it,'' the general said, adding: ''I leave it to the government''.

General Musharaf said Pakistan was not following an offensive policy, but could match India ''anywhere''. ''We also have the capability to end a war on a favourable note,'' he added.

Pakistan President Muhammad Rafiq Tarar says India's test firing of the Agni II missile had vitiated the atmosphere of the on-going bilateral dialogue aimed at resolving disputes between the two countries.

''By test firing the latest version of the Agni missile, India has once again demonstrated its aggressive posture which is detrimental to regional peace and security,'' officials quoted Tarar as telling a meeting with British and Norwegian MPs.

Sunday's test has raised demands in Pakistan for a matching missile test. Hardline Islamic parties demanded that Pakistan immediately test its own missile.

"We tried hard to convince India not to go this route but now they have and we will have to respond,'' said Nishat Ahmed, director of the Pakistan Institute for Regional Studies and a retired army general.

General Ahmed felt the Agni II was aimed more at China than Pakistan.

Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto said the subcontinent stands ready to make a choice: ''Whether we want to build peace or become another Soviet Union which despite possessing huge arsenals of nuclear weapons and the largest land mass ended up having to beg for food from the European Commission.''

She didn't hold out much hope for peace, saying, ''the introduction of new missiles in the arsenal will only deal a severe blow to the efforts aimed at building peace.''

For Pakistan, said Tanvir Ahmed Khan at the Institute of Strategic Studies, the decision of whether to conduct a missile test should be made not in response to India, but based on national defence requirements.

He said there is no need for Pakistan to conduct tests, and it is time for Pakistan to end the "tit-for-tat'' relationship with India. "It is too simplistic,'' he said.

UNI

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