AFP, ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Monday said it was on the brink of test firing a 2,000-kilometer (1,250-mile) range missile but had already forewarned key countries including its nuclear rival India.
“You should expect this flight test any time shortly,” foreign ministry spokesman Masood Khan told a weekly press briefing, stressing New Delhi had had been informed about the impending test of Shaheen-II missile.
“We always inform neighbours and key countries,” Khan said.
“This is something that is ought to be done depending on the trajectory of fire (and) you have to inform all concerned.”
Khan said Pakistan and India, who have only recently pulled back from the brink of conflict, had established agreement on weapons testing and were keeping each other fully informed.
The spokesman said the purpose of missile tests was to attain a “flexible and sufficient” delivery system for the weapons, which he said were to be used as a deterrent.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf early last month announced about preparations for the test fire of the Shaheen II missile.
“We have built the Shaheen II missile with a range of 2,000 kilometers and we will test fire it in one month,” Musharraf said.
Pakistan carried out its last missile test in October when it fired a 700-kilometer range surface-to-surface Shaheen-I ballistic missile, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
Pakistan's arsenal includes the Ghauri missile which can hit targets up to 1,500 kilometers.
India and Pakistan geared up their missile programmes after both carried out nuclear tests in May 1998. India's tests include the Agni II, which has a range of 2,500 kilometers.
