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US blames India for Pak missile test

C K Arora in Washington

The United States has blamed India for Pakistan's Ghauri missile test.

Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Karl Inderfurth said the US placed the responsibility of unleashing a nuclear and missile race in the sub-continent at India's doors.

''We believe India has a special responsibility in this regard. Clearly Pakistan is responding to Indian actions, including the missile test and the nuclear tests,'' Inderfurth told the Senate foreign relations committee.

He said the US had hoped Pakistan would not respond in a tit-for-tat fashion to the Indian missile test. ''We hope the confidence building measures and nuclear risk reduction measures discussed at the Lahore summit could be finalised by the parties as soon as possible.''

''This would help address the concerns expressed by the international community about the possibility of a ballistic missile or nuclear arms race in the region,'' the state department official said.

Inderfurth said both India and Pakistan had said they wanted to meet their security requirements at the lowest possible levels. ''We would like to see concrete steps by both countries that they intend to do so,'' he added.

He expressed some satisfaction that statements by Indian and Pakistan leaders after the latest tests were positive as far as their bilateral dialogue was concerned.

Inderfurth referred to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief's statement that on-going talks with India would continue and that the tests and dialogue were two separate issues and should be treated as such.

Earlier, White House spokesman Joe Lockhart expressed ''disappointment'' at the Ghauri-II test.

Pakistan had notified the US that it would carry out the test. 'If there is something that came out of the Lahore agreement, it is that they are notifying each other,'' he said. ''But we are concerned that they went forward at all.''

Meanwhile, Defence Minister George Fernandes said the firing of the Ghauri missile by Pakistan was expected.

"We all knew our neighbour will also test their defence capability after we tested ours," Fernandes told reporters.

The government is keeping a close watch on all aspects of the country's security, he said.

UNI

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