INDIA: Less than a week before elections in Pakistan, nuclear neighbours Pakistan and India launched apparent tit-for-tat missile tests yesterday, following a resurgence of tensions over Kashmir.
The Indian test of a medium-range surface-to-air missile came some nine hours after Pakistan tested its own nuclear-capable medium-range ballistic missile.
Islamabad then accused India of fuelling an arms race, a charge New Delhi immediately called an "over-reaction".
"We believe that India has done this to initiate an arms race which Pakistan has not at all indulged in," Information Minister Mr Nisar Memon said.
"India appears to be accelerating the arms race, which is regrettable." New Delhi refuted Pakistan's allegation, saying the two tests were not comparable.
"This [Akash missile\] is only for air defence. How can it be compared to Shaheen?" India's defence ministry spokesman Mr P.K. Bandopadhyay said.
"We have an integrated missile programme in system and it is being tested according to plan. It has no relation to Shaheen. Pakistan's reaction is an overreaction. In no way is it an act of provocation or an arms race," he added. - (AFP)