The Hindu : International : Pakistan's edge will be maintained: Jamali

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 30, 2004

International

International

Pakistan's edge will be maintained: Jamali

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, MAY 29. Today's Ghauri missile launch is the first missile test by Pakistan since the Manmohan Singh Government took office in Delhi and the second since the scandal centred on the Pakistan scientist, A.Q. Khan, on supply of nuclear technology to other countries surfaced in November last.

Following apprehensions among political parties that Pakistan might roll back its missile and nuclear programme under pressure from international community in the wake of the nuclear secrets leakage scandal, the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, had sought to assure the people that the country's missile and nuclear programmes were irreversible.

Today's test came a day after Pakistan celebrated in a low-key fashion the sixth anniversary of nuclear tests. Observers believe that the test is more in the nature of reassurance on continuation of the missile and nuclear related programme to the people.

An official statement said the Prime Minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, witnessed the missile launch. He was accompanied by the Chairman Joint Chiefs of the Staff Committee, Muhammad Aziz Khan, and other military officials.

The statement said that later talking to the scientists, engineers and staff who participated in the launch, Mr. Jamali said that Pakistan's policy of maintaining a minimum credible deterrence as the cornerstone of its national security policy had been conceived after much thought and care and had stood the test of time. He told them that Pakistan's "edge over its adversaries" in the strategic field would be maintained at all cost and that his Government would provide the resources to maintain the quality of the nation's deterrence.

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