March 26, 2003
Bitter rivals India and Pakistan both test fired nuclear-capable missiles today, raising tensions on the subcontinent three days after 24 Hindus were murdered in the disputed region of Kashmir. India appeared to have moved first, firing a surface-to-surface Prithvi missile at 11.30am (0600GMT) from a testing range in the eastern state of Orissa. A defence ministry spokesman, Baljit Singh Menon, described the short-range missile test as a routine event to improve the version of the Prithvi that would be used by the army.
"The launch was witnessed by senior army officials. All the objectives of the mission were met and the launch was successful in every respect," Mr Menon said. Pakistan then test fired a short-range nuclear-capable missile with range to hit parts of India, the Pakistani foreign ministry said. Aziz Ahmed Khan, a spokesman for the foreign ministry, confirmed that Pakistan had fired an Abdali missile, which can carry nuclear and conventional warheads, but had informed India of the impending test yesterday.
"They didn't tell us about [their test] beforehand," Mr Khan said. "The common practice is for each country to inform the other before conducting a test, but this time we were surprised." Mr Khan did not disclose the time of Pakistan's missile test.
The tests come two days after suspected Islamic militants killed 24 Hindus in a village in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state. More than a dozen Islamic guerrilla groups have been fighting for Kashmir's independence, or its merger with mainly Muslim Pakistan.
India accuses Pakistan of funding, training and arming the guerrillas who have fought the 13-year insurgency in which more than 61,000 people have died. Pakistan says it supports the militants' cause, but gives them no material aid. The south Asian nuclear rivals have fought two of their three wars over control of the Himalayan province, which both claim in its entirety. Last year the two countries massed 1 million troops along Kashmir's unstable line of control before tensions eased.
Today's test by India was one of scores carried out by India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to perfect the capability of the Prithvi missile to carry a nuclear warhead. The missile has a range of 95 miles and can carry a payload of one tonne. India conducted five nuclear tests in 1998, causing international consternation and provoking economic sanctions by the US and other Western nations. India's tests were followed by nuclear tests by Pakistan.
Since then, Indian defence scientists have been engaged in developing a missile delivery system for its nuclear arsenal. The DRDO has conducted 16 trials of the army version of the Prithvi, which was first test fired in February 1988. Just last month, India test fired a supersonic cruise missile jointly developed by New Delhi and Moscow and capable of hitting several Pakistani cities.
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