Pak's new missiles short-range, indigenously manufactured

The two missiles Pakistan test-fired on Wednesday near Nowshera were short-range missiles and were manufactured at the A Q Khan Research Laboratories in Kahuta.

Official sources said the surface-to-air missile Anza had a range of five km and the anti-tank Bakhtar Shikan four km.

The Khan Research Laboratories is now finalising the production of the surface-to-air guided missile Anza MK111, with a range of 10 km, the sources said.

''Work is also at an advanced stage to test Bakhtar Shikan MK-11 missiles with fibre optic guidance, having a range of seven km. These are due for army trials early next year," the sources said.

Claiming ''cent per cent results'' on Wednesday, they said all the targets were hit ''accurately and with great thrust.''

Recently, Pakistan also test-fired a Hatf-3 rocket. It was claimed that this test was carried out by the Karachi-based Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission. It was, however, speculated that the Hatf-3 was actually a Chinese-made M-11 missile with a range of 600 km.

Wednesday's test-firing was witnessed by Pakistan army chief General Jahangir Karamat and nuclear scientist A Q Khan, among other senior officials and scientists.

The demonstration came a day after Pakistan assured Japanese Foreign Minister Yukihiko Ikeda of its commitment to disarmament. Ikeda wanted Pakistan to take a lead over India and sign the Comprehensive Rest Ban Treaty.

However, the known Pakistani position on CTBT was reiterated by a foreign ministry spokesman in the weekly press briefing. ''We have no plans whatsoever to sign the treaty before India adheres to it.''

Asked to comment on Prime Minister I K Gujral's recent statement that Pakistan had a larger arsenal than its legitimate needs, the Pakistan foreign ministry official said it was always the smaller state that was in danger.

UNI