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Pakistan test-fires nuclear-capable missile
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-11-29 13:35
Pakistan has
test-fired its Ghaznavi short-range nuclear-capable missile, the fifth
such missile test this year. [AFP file] | Pakistan has test-fired a short-range nuclear capable missile, the fifth such
missile test this year.
The test was the third of the "Ghaznavi" or Hatf-III missile, a
surface-to-surface missile with a range of 290 kilometres (180 miles), the
military announced in a statement.
Most of this year's tests have been seen as aimed at placating domestic
anxieties that Pakistan may be pressured to dismantle its nuclear program after
it emerged its key nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan had been involved in
proliferation, and because of peace moves with India.
Pakistan informed its neighbours ahead of the test, it said.
"The test was part of a series of tests planned... in order to verify certain
parameters and to further refine different subsystems of the missile," the Inter
Services Public Relations said in a statement.
"The flight data collected indicates that all the design parameters have been
successfully validated."
The test comes one week after the prime ministers of rival neighbours India
and Pakistan met for the first time, in the middle of a step-by-step peace
process two years after they nearly went to war.
The Pakistani military said more tests were planned.
"Pakistan's nuclear and missile program will maintain the pace of development
and tests will continue to be conducted as per technical needs," the statement
said.
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