Pakistan test-fires Ghauri missile

Pakistan today successfully test-fired an intermediate range, nuclear-capable Hatf 5 (Ghauri) ballistic missile which can hit targets accurately up to 1,300 kilometres, the military said.

The launch was carried out by the troops of Army Strategic Forces Command (ASFC) at the culmination of a training exercise held to test the operational readiness of a Strategic Missile Group (SMG) equipped with Ghauri Missiles, said a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

President General Pervez Musharraf handed over the highly accurate Ghauri Missiles to the ASFC a few years ago.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who witnessed the test, congratulated officers and other ranks of the ASFC on the high standards achieved during training. This, he added, was reflected in the successful launch and accuracy of the missile.

He said Pakistan can justifiably be proud of its defence capability and the reliability of its nuclear deterrence.

Pakistan believes in peace that comes from a position of strength and operational readiness, Mr Aziz said while declaring defence of the country as non-negotiable.

The Prime Minister made it clear that Pakistan’s nuclear capability had matured and was consolidated as a fully operationalised capability in the last seven years.

He said the three services had raised effective Strategic Forces to handle the nation's nuclear capability in all dimensions, and were equipped to handle strategic assets in the field.

The National Command Authority and the Strategic Plans Division, which oversaw Pakistan’s Strategic Programme, are fully alive to the regional security situation and has developed adequate response options to meet any contingency, he said.

Pakistan has been test-firing different versions of the short and medium range delivery systems since April 1998 when it first conducted test of Ghauri intermediate range missile.

HATF-3 (Ghaznavi), HATF-5 (Ghauri), HATF-4 (Shaheen-1) have already been handed over to Pakistan Army's Strategic Force Command.

Pakistan has also conducted the test fire of the ground-launched cruise missile (GLCM), Babur and surface-to-surface long-range Shaheen-II (HATF-6) missiles last year, which can carry any type of warhead accurately up to 550 and 2,000 km respectively.

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