AFP, ISLAMABAD: President Pervez Musharraf said Thursday Pakistan would test fire a 2,000-kilometer (1,250-mile) range missile in a month.
“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 at a news conference during which he said he had pardoned the disgraced architect of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, Abdul Qadeer Khan, for leaking technology abroad.
Musharraf vowed Pakistan's nuclear and missile programmes would never be rolled back and the country was achieving steady progress in strengthening its assets.
“This country will never roll back its nuclear assets and its missile programme. This can never be done, this is my promise,” he 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 has tested more missiles than Pakistan, including the Agni II which has a range of 2,500 kilometers.
