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Integrated missile system protecting motherland

ISLAMABAD: With the successful test fire of Hataf-I short range missile, Pakistan now has got its own indigenously developed integrated missile system for its defence needs.

In a special Channel-3 television programme moderated by Mir Jamilur Rehman, a senior writer and columnist, former secretary, foreign affairs Najamuddin Shaikh paid tributes to Pakistani scientists and experts.

Najamuddin Shaikh said that they have filled the vacuum in the strong defence of the country.

He said that there is a trend against missiles in the world that they are de-stabilising weapons. But when India was developing its Prithvi, Pakistan drew the attention of the international community towards it, but it did not take any action against India and the result was that India not only developed the missile but also made it nuclear war-head capable.

When Pakistan protested, the Indians said that they will not deploy the weapon, but later it was given to units and India also started developing their naval and air versions, he said.

The former secretary foreign affairs said missiles can also be classified under the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and that is the reason that Western countries have established Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and under this regime they have banned export of missile technology to any country.

"But they did not mention the indigenous efforts despite demands from Pakistan. That is why we, through our indigenous efforts, developed Hataf I, II, Shaheen and Ghauri missiles," he said.

Dr. Imtiaz H. Bokhari, a defence and foreign affairs expert and analyst, said that Hataf-I has a guidance system and when data is fed into it goes straight towards target.

Describing the salient features of the new missile, he said that it has a range of 90 to 100 kilometres and comes in the battlefield range of weapons.

Shaheen and Ghauri, he said, are intermediate range missiles while Hataf-II has a range of 300 kilometres. "We needed an accurate weapon which is required in the battlefield and the Hataf-I will fulfil this need to a great extent," he said.

"When a country starts developing a missile, it continues to extend its range and payload. Our needs are different than India," Bokhari maintained.

Responding to recent statements by Indian Premier Atal Bihari Vajpayee that India is ready for war and despite the offer of talks by Chief Executive Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Vajpayee is saying that they will not talk on Kashmir but also get Azad Kashmir freed from Pakistan claiming it was Indian territory, Dr. Bokhari said that missiles are not a destabilising factor in each situation, but they are very de-stabilising in the case of India and Pakistan.

He argued so because both countries have a very short time, about two, three minutes to respond to a missile attack. This puts enormous pressure on both the countries especially when they are nuclear powers. "Both countries leadership, particularly Vajpayee should understand that such irresponsible statements should not be issued," said Dr. Bokhari.

He was of the view that nuclear weapons are not only a restraining factor but they also demand responsibility and both the countries should think over it.

Responding to a question Najamuddin said that when in 1998 Pakistan conducted its nuclear tests in response to Indian nuclear tests it emphasised on India and other countries that there was a strong need for a strategic and nuclear restraint regime in South Asia.

Missile, he said, are so destabilising in the situation of the two countries that there is almost no reaction time. "We should see what path US and former USSR took when they had 20,000 nuclear war heads, then the probability of accidents and miscalculation was also very high," he said.

"We have always called for establishing a minimum credible deterrence doctrine," he said.

Responding to the statement of Vajpayee, Najamuddin said that the target audience of Vajpayee is not Pakistan but some other countries before whom he wants to paint Pakistan black so that they do not strengthen their ties with it. And these kind of statements are also directed at some visitors coming to Pakistan including US President Bill Clinton, he maintained.

Najamuddin said that India is avoiding talks because it fears that its unreasonable stand on issues will be exposed before other countries.

Dr. Bokhari said that after both countries have got nuclear weapons, India should not try to isolate Pakistan. It is in the national interest of India not to isolate it but there is need to integrate Pakistan so it becomes a prosperous country and both countries should be able to relate to each other.

Jamilur Rehman said that Chief Executive Gen. Pervez Musharraf has made it clear that there is only one dispute between the two countries and that is Kashmir and he has made repeated offers to India to have talks on this central issue.

He asked that why cannot India understand this. He said that during the Cold War, United States and former USSR had very close link so that there should not be any misunderstanding or accident.

Najamuddin said India does not agree to this but it can say that it will talk on other irritants first. It is avoiding talks because its unreasonable position will be disclosed.

Bokhari said that Pakistan has successfully tested Hataf-I missile and now it has got weapons which are the demands of its strategic needs. We do not need more weapons of longer ranges because it will be viewed in a different perspective by other countries. The range of 1500 and 1000 kilometres is enough for our strategic needs.

Najamuddin said that Pakistan has repeatedly said that it does not want an arms race. "We want minimum deterrence, there should be bilateral negotiations and Kashmir should be the first issue. Today we have developed an integrated missile system which can meet our needs. We have made a system which has an error margin of two-kilometres, but our scientists would say no, they want an error margin of a few meters."

He warned that it has spiral effect which has no end. US and former USSR spent $ five trillion and as a result USSR broke.

"We have to develop our human resources for developing economies just like Japan and Korea have done it," he concluded. APP