Pakistan expresses concern over India’s nuclear-capable missile test

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan had expressed concern over the recent test fire of surface-to-surface ballistic missile Agni-5 by India that would further vitiate the political and security environment in South Asia.

“We are concerned at India’s jingoistic pursuit of lethal weapons, which coupled with its hostile posturing vis-à-vis neighbours, further imperils peace and stability in South Asia,” Foreign Office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar said in his weekly press briefing.

He said it must be alarming for the international community that at a time when the region was already facing the growing and real threat of extremist Hindutva ideology which espouses territorial expansionism, the BJP-RSS combine was recklessly seeking an arms race.

The spokesperson said India’s behaviour defied the oft-propounded argument that mainstreaming in the international export control regimes would further the non-proliferation objectives of the regime by promoting restraints.

“To the contrary, India seems to have been imbued with a sense of entitlement to access technologies for advancing its weapons programs, and it is a source of concern for us,” the spokesperson remarked.

Sharjah-Srinagar flights

Responding to a question, the spokesperson said that the authorities were looking into the start of international flight between Srinagar in Indian-occupied Kashmir and UAE city of Sharjah.

He refused to comment on a recent memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the Dubai government and Indian authorities to make massive investments in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) in various sectors.

“On the question of flights and some reported investments in IIOJK, there are various dimensions to it, especially in the case of flights that includes technical questions as well as international conventions on air navigation, the relevant authorities are seized of the matter,” the spokesperson said

The Foreign Office spokesperson refused to explicitly comment about the development and neither did he express concerns over the move. He said India was seeking to divert attention from oppression and human rights violations in IIOJK, and continued to employ diversionary measures to portray a fake sense of ‘normalcy’ and development in the region.

“Let me state that Jammu and Kashmir remains an internationally-recognised disputed territory. No such ploy to mislead the international community would succeed,” the spokesperson said.

India tests nuclear-capable missile

India has test-fired a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of 5,000km (3,125 miles) from an island off its east coast amid rising border tensions with China.

The successful launch on Wednesday was in line with “India’s policy to have credible minimum deterrence that underpins the commitment to no first use”, said a government statement. The Agni-5 missile splashed down in the Bay of Bengal with “a very high degree of accuracy”, said the statement issued on Wednesday night.

India has been developing its medium- and long-range missile systems with and without nuclear warheads amid increasing strategic competition with China. The tension flared last year over a long-disputed section of their border in the mountainous Ladakh area.

India is also increasingly concerned of Beijing’s efforts to heighten its influence in the Indian Ocean. Talks between Indian and Chinese army commanders to disengage troops from key areas along their border ended in a deadlock earlier this month, failing to ease a 17-month standoff that has sometimes led to deadly clashes.