Pakistan yesterday test-fired a medium-range, nuclear-capable missile, the second such test in less than a week, the army said.
The army said it successfully fired off the Hatf-4 missile, also known as the Shaheen 1, in the early morning. The missile has a range of 700km, meaning it can hit most major targets in India.
"The test is part of the ongoing series of tests of Pakistan's indigenous missile systems," the army said in a statement, adding that: "In a spirit of confidence building, Pakistan had given prior notification of the tests to its neighbors."
In New Delhi, the Indian Defense Ministry spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment. But Pakistani army spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said the test launch should not effect Indian-Pakistani relations.
"These tests are on going. This will have no impact on the situation in the region," he said.
The test was the second in less than a week. Pakistan said after the first launch on Friday of the short-range Hatf-2 Ghaznavi that it was in the middle of a series of such tests. Sultan said India had been told of each of the launches beforehand.
Friday's test was the first in Pakistan since March, but Islamabad insists the missile tests have nothing to do with simmering tensions with India.
The two countries appeared headed for peace talks a few months ago, and the silos were silent while they resumed diplomatic ties and restored bus links.
On April 18, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee raised hopes in the region with a surprise call for peace with Pakistan, saying he was extending a "hand of friendship" to his bitter rival.
The two countries appeared eager to discuss even the flashpoint issue of Kashmir, the Hima-layan region split between the two, which both claim in its entirety. The state has been the source of two of the three wars Pakistan and India have fought since 1947.
But negotiations never materialized and Pakistani and Indian leaders have recently traded accusations and insults.
Indian and Pakistani officials at the UN General Assembly last month engaged in their most bitter public sparring in years.
India's UN ambassador, Vijay Nambiar, accused Pakistan of engaging in a "diplomacy of abuse and hate."
Vajpayee later acknowledged the "peace process has suffered a setback," while Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan accused the Indian leader of being "full of negativity."
Pakistan and India have used weapons tests in the past to send a message to each other.
In 1998, the countries conducted tit-for-tat nuclear tests, earning years of sanctions. They nearly went to war last year after an attack on India's parliament that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-backed Islamic militants.
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