New Delhi: Missile tests and weapons development programmes of Pakistan and India are unlikely to be influenced by any thaw in Indo-Pak relations and the greater emphasis on trade, Lt General Talat Masood, the three-star general of the Pakistan Army who led Islamabad's Missile Integration Programme in the late 80s and has spearheaded many of Pakistan's classified weapons development programmes including the nuclear weapons programme, said in an exclusive interview to IBNLive.
"The trajectories of the missile and weapons development programmes of both Pakistan and India are independent of the trajectory of their economic and trade ties. Both countries will add numbers and capabilities till they have enough of both in their inventories," the ace military scientist told IBNLive a few hours after Pakistan tested an advanced version of its nuclear-capable Shaheen missile designated as 1A. While there is no official confirmation about its range and payload capacity, it is understood to have a higher range than Shaheen-1 (which has a range of 750 km with a 250-500 kg warhead). The missile test comes in the typical tit-for-tat fashion after India successfully test-fired the nuclear capable IRBM Agni V, which brings the whole of China within India's strike envelope but still does not qualify as a full-fledged ICBM.
"India, of course, has China to worry about too. So one can't expect any of the countries to suddenly cease these programmes," he said.
However, he added that "after so many years of hostilities failed to solve the thorny issues, a sense has dawned upon the leadership in Pakistan that greater economic engagement with India may prepare better grounds for the thorny issues to be resolved."
He added that "the current situation in Pakistan, the rampant militancy, the unsure situation in Afghanistan, domestic economic problems also possibly created grounds for seeking better economic ties with India."
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