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Missile will ease tension: Pak foreign minister

Pakistani Foreign Minister Gohar Ayub Khan says the successful test-firing of the 1,500-km range Ghauri missile ''will help ease tension'' between his country and India.

The minister, son of the late Pakistan dictator Ayub Khan who went to war with India in September 1965, made this statement in an interview to the BBC's Urdu service on Tuesday night.

Explaining his statement, he said, ''When India realises we have missiles it will talk to us as an equal and will stop hurling threats.''

Khan did not agree with a recent remark made by Defence Minister George Fernandes that China was a greater threat to India than Pakistan. ''After the 1962 war India cannot think of a war against China,'' the Pakistan foreign minister said.

He claimed that Pakistan's missile programme was in reply to India's missile programme. But he had a different explanation to give when asked about his reaction to the United States's displeasure at the missile test. ''Their views are wrong. It is only part of our research and development programme,'' he said.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief said today that the missile Pakistan tested on Monday was "a natural response to our legitimate security concerns and the world should view it as such."

Sharief told the media in his hometown Lahore that Pakistan had no aggressive designs against any country, but had the sovereign right to safeguard its security.

He described the successful test-firing of the 1,500-km range Ghauri missile as a landmark in his country's efforts to become self-reliant in defence.

''We rely on Allah and on our own strength for our defence,'' he said. ''A strong defence guarantees a strong economy.''

UNI

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