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Pak rules out reciprocal missile tests
K J M Varma in Islamabad |
January 23, 2003 20:09 IST
Pakistan has ruled out any missile tests in response to India's test-firing of Agni-I earlier this month.
"Recent missile tests by India do not warrant a response as Pakistan's missile programme is guided by its own technical dynamics. Tests will be conducted whenever a technical validation is necessary," President Pervez Musharraf said.
He was attending a meeting of the Development Control Committee of the National Command Authority, which controls the nuclear weapons of Pakistan, on Wednesday.
At the meeting, the NCA approved the tightening of the security of the country's nuclear arsenal.
The meeting came in the wake of repeated apprehensions expressed by the international community, especially Russian President Vladamir Putin, of Pakistan's nuclear weapons falling into wrong hands.
Musharraf will visit Moscow on February 7.
The meeting was confined to Musharraf and top military officers even though the president had said that the decision to use nuclear weapons rested with him and Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali.
The committee also reviewed the progress of ongoing strategic projects and expressed satisfaction on the pace of their development.
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