Failure of Hatf missiles drove Pak to China

Pakistan's paranoia over India's short-range Prithvi missile forced it to seek China's co-operation in developing Hatf III missiles.

Disclosing this, defence ministry officials said the virtual failure of Hatf I and Hatf II missiles added to Islamabad's woes.

''Haft III appears to have drawn Pakistan's finest scientific talent besides considerable backing from the Chinese,'' the ministry officials said.

China seeks to give the controversial missile programme an ''indigenous'' Pakistan flavour to avoid the US's wrath on the Missile Technology Control Regime front.

To prop up the ''indigenous'' angle, observers said Pakistan's armed forces and its civilian space research organisation been actively involved in the project.

However, Islamabad knows that the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission, which was established in 1961 with US assistance, lags behind the Indian Space Research Organisation in rocket technology. This has been clearly established by the rockets fired by the SUARC at Sonmiani Beach, about 50 km north-west of Karachi.

Pakistan may have opted for an enlarged capacity for the Hatf III because of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission's demands. The latter too is actively involved in the project and has directed its clandestine network to acquire sophisticated technology and equipment.

Referring to the Washington Times's report this week that Pakistan has deployed the Chinese-built M-11 missiles, defence ministry officials felt the US state department has been rattled by the disclosures. A greater level of Pakistani effort in this direction, they said, combined with continued Chinese assistance, could result in Islamabad acquiring nuclear missiles by 1998.