Looks like India’s replied by test firing its own BVR missile
NEW DELHI, India (AP) - India test fired its new Astra air-to-air missile from a ground launcher on Friday, according to local press reports.
Sources at the Defense Ministry said another test was scheduled within the next two days, according to the Press Trust of India.
India has said it has a fixed schedule of missile tests for its growing weaponry and routinely denies they are connected to other events, although often India and Pakistan conduct weapons tests a day apart.
Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have fought three wars since they became independent nations in 1947. International diplomacy averted another war last year.
On Thursday, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said he would not accept Pakistan’s offer for mutual destruction of nuclear arsenals.
The nuclear disarmament offer came from Pakistan earlier in the week as part of a series of goodwill gestures starting with plans to exchange ambassadors as a first step toward improving relations.
The missile tested on Friday has a striking range of 15 to 25 miles, the news agency reported. It said the missile was fired from Chandipur, in the east coast state of Orissa.
Friday’s test came as Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage visited Afghanistan, on his way to New Delhi. On Thursday, Armitage visited Pakistan and encouraged recent steps taken by nuclear-armed India and Pakistan to resume peace talks.
They have an agreement to notify each other of major weapons tests, but it was not immediately clear if battle-zone weapons such as an air-to-air missile is included.
India has accused Pakistan of training and financing separatists in Kashmir, its only Muslim majority state; Islamabad has said there are no training camps on its territory and the government only supports the moral cause of the rebels.
Officials at Pakistan’s foreign ministry were not immediately available for comment on the test. But an Islamabad-based commentator on nuclear related issues dismissed any impact of the test on recent peace moves by the two countries.
``This is quite a routine test. I do not think it will have any impact, positive or negative, on the peace initiatives between the two countries,‘’ said Pervez Hoodhboy at the state-run Quaid-e-Azam University.
…