Islamabad: Pakistan says it has successfully tested a short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
The military said Wednesday the Nasr is a high-precision weapons system with the ability for quick deployment and a range of 70 kilometres. It added that this system will augment credible deterrence against prevailing threats more effectively.
Army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, who was at the launch, said Pakistan will go to any lengths to ensure regional peace and stability and underlined the missiles are meant to stress that war is not an option.
Bajwa said war must be avoided at all costs and “our strategic (nuclear) capability is a guarantee of peace against a highly militarised and increasingly belligerent neighbour”.
President Mamnoon Hussain, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and services chiefs have congratulated the scientists and the nation over successful launch of ‘Nasr’ missile.
He also said Pakistan’s strategic capability is a guarantee of peace against a highly militarised and belligerent neighbour — an obvious reference to arch-enemy India.
The two became nuclear powers in the late 1990s.
