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Pakistan tested Ghauri III on Aug 15

Our Correspondent in New Delhi

India is certain Pakistan test-fired the Ghauri III missile on August 15 despite denials by Islamabad.

As first reported by Stratfor, a United States-based intelligence consulting group that monitors events worldwide, when India was celebrating its fifty-fourth Independence Day, Pakistan tested the Ghauri III deep in the arid regions of Baluchistan.

Incidentally, Chagai Hills, where Pakistan carried out its nuclear tests on May 28 and 30, 1998, is also located in Baluchistan, a province bordering Iran.

Intelligence sources in the army and government are convinced that Pakistan tested the missile on the day.

The Ghauri III is an intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of hitting targets up to 2,000 kilometres away and carrying a nuclear payload. This puts a large part of peninsular and northern India within striking range. The missile is believed to be Pakistan's answer to India's Agni.

Pakistan fired the missile from somewhere in its Punjab province, targeting a mountainside in Baluchistan. But the missile broke up before it hit its target, or it may have self-destructed. According to Stratfor, the Pakistani Army is looking for the pieces.

According to Stratfor, "missile-like objects flew from east to west before disappearing into the mountains". The objects were estimated to be 15 feet long and flew at a height of 5,000 feet.

The Ghauri series of missiles is believed to have come from North Korea's Nodong series. Western and Indian intelligence have evidence that North Korea and China have transferred technology and missiles to Pakistan.

Both North Korea and China have denied any transfer of technology or missiles. China has pointed out that as a responsible member of the Missile Technology Control Regime, it has never transferred missiles or technology to Pakistan.

But Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdus Sattar said on August 11 that any transfer was within the parameters of the MTCR.

Incidentally, some Western strategic analysts believe that since Pakistan has not spent its time and resources developing "indigenous" missiles and weapons, preferring to acquire them off the shelf from China and North Korea, it has an edge over India.

New Delhi is seen as being obsessed with the indigenous development of missile and weapons technology rather them just buying them outright. While acquiring and developing technologies has its benefits, the process is slow and tardy.

Officially, India has not reacted to the reports of the Ghauri III test.

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