- President Pervez Musharraf received an unusual birthday
gift yesterday - the successful test-firing of Pakistan's first nuclear-capable
cruise missile.
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- With a range of more than 300 miles and able to evade
Indian radar by hugging the ground, the Hatf VII Babur missile is designed
to match India's BrahMos missile, tested in 2001.
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- Pakistan state media said the launch was "a gift
of the scientists on the birthday of President Musharraf and Independence
Day".
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- The launch comes just five days after India and Pakistan
agreed to alert each other before all ballistic missile tests and set up
a hotline to reduce the risk of accidental nuclear war.
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- Pakistan gave no warning of yesterday's test to India.
However, a foreign ministry spokesman said Pakistan was under no obligation
to do so because Hatf VII is a cruise, not a ballistic missile. New Delhi
offered no immediate response to the test.
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- Pakistan was severely irked last month when Washington
agreed in principle to supply nuclear fuel to India for civilian use, despite
the fact that India, like Pakistan, is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty.
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- Such exceptional treatment, say analysts and diplomats,
is a recognition of India's excellent record in safeguarding its nuclear
technologies.
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- Pakistan, by contrast, was seriously embarrassed in 2004
when the "father" of its nuclear programme, Abdul Qadeer Khan,
confessed to passing atomic secrets to Libya and Iran.
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- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.j
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