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The Obama administration has accused Pakistan of illegally modifying U.S.-made missiles to expand its ability to hit land-based targets, a charge promptly rejected by Pakistani Ambassador in Washington. Citing senior administration and Congressional officials, The New York Times made the accusation in a dispatch that also said the altered missiles posed a potential threat to India. The Times said the charge came in late June through an unpublicized diplomatic protest to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and other top Pakistani officials.
"The accusations are incorrect and based on wrong intelligence," Ambassador Husain Haqqani," while commenting on the Times' dispatch. "We will make sure that the US understands the correct picture and we will fight back periodic efforts to falsely blame Pakistan which remains a critical US ally in fighting terrorism," Ambassador Haqqani said, urging the American media to help Pakistan in its vitally important anti-terrorism efforts and desist from making false accusations.
"Instead of false accusations, US media should help Pakistan secure the help it needs to fight our common enemy viz; terrorism," he added. The accusation, made amid growing concerns about Pakistan's increasingly rapid conventional and nuclear weapons development, triggered a new round of U.S.-Pakistani tensions, the report added. "There's a concerted effort to get these guys to slow down," the newspaper quoted a senior administration official as saying.
"Their energies are misdirected," the official added. The accusation comes at a particularly delicate time, when the administration is asking Congress to approve $7.5 billion in aid to Pakistan over the next five years, the dispatch said. Washington, it added, is also pressing Pakistani military to focus its attentions on fighting the Taliban, rather than expanding its nuclear and conventional forces aimed at India.
A senior Pakistani official, who spoke to the Times on the condition of anonymity, also rejected the accusation, saying that the missile tested was developed by Pakistan, just as it had modified North Korean designs to build a range of land-based missiles that could strike India, according to the Times. He said that Pakistan had taken the unusual step of agreeing to allow American officials to inspect the country’s Harpoon inventory to prove that it had not violated the law, a step that administration officials praised. U.S. officials said the disputed weapon is a conventional one based on the Harpoon anti-ship missiles that were sold to Pakistan during the Reagan administration as a defensive weapon, the newspaper reported.
The accusation stems from U.S. intelligence agencies' detection of a "suspicious" missile test on April 23 which was never announced by the Pakistanis and which appeared to give it a new offensive weapon, the Times said. U.S. military and intelligence officials suspect Pakistan of modifying the Harpoon sold to them in the 1980s, which would violate the Arms Control Export Act.
"The focus of our concern is that this is a potential unauthorized modification of a maritime antiship defensive capability to an offensive land-attack missile," another senior administration official told the Times, speaking on condition of anonymity about classified information. "When we have concerns, we act aggressively," the official added. Pakistan denied the charge and said it developed the missile, the Times said. The Times said some experts were also skeptical of the American claims. Robert Hewson, editor of Jane’s Air-Launched Weapons, a yearbook and Web-based data service, said the Harpoon missile did not have the necessary range for a land-attack missile, which would lend credibility to Pakistani claims that they are developing their own new missile.
Moreover, he said, Pakistan already has more modern land-attack missiles that it developed itself or acquired from China. “They’re beyond the need to reverse-engineer old U.S. kit,” Hewson said in a telephone interview. “They’re more sophisticated than that.” Hewson said the ship-to-shore missile that Pakistan was testing was part of a concerted effort to develop an array of conventional missiles that could be fired from the air, land or sea to address India’s much more formidable conventional missile arsenal.
U.S. accuses Pakistan of modifying Harpoon for land-attack
"The accusations are incorrect and based on wrong intelligence," Ambassador Husain Haqqani," while commenting on the Times' dispatch. "We will make sure that the US understands the correct picture and we will fight back periodic efforts to falsely blame Pakistan which remains a critical US ally in fighting terrorism," Ambassador Haqqani said, urging the American media to help Pakistan in its vitally important anti-terrorism efforts and desist from making false accusations.
"Instead of false accusations, US media should help Pakistan secure the help it needs to fight our common enemy viz; terrorism," he added. The accusation, made amid growing concerns about Pakistan's increasingly rapid conventional and nuclear weapons development, triggered a new round of U.S.-Pakistani tensions, the report added. "There's a concerted effort to get these guys to slow down," the newspaper quoted a senior administration official as saying.
"Their energies are misdirected," the official added. The accusation comes at a particularly delicate time, when the administration is asking Congress to approve $7.5 billion in aid to Pakistan over the next five years, the dispatch said. Washington, it added, is also pressing Pakistani military to focus its attentions on fighting the Taliban, rather than expanding its nuclear and conventional forces aimed at India.
A senior Pakistani official, who spoke to the Times on the condition of anonymity, also rejected the accusation, saying that the missile tested was developed by Pakistan, just as it had modified North Korean designs to build a range of land-based missiles that could strike India, according to the Times. He said that Pakistan had taken the unusual step of agreeing to allow American officials to inspect the country’s Harpoon inventory to prove that it had not violated the law, a step that administration officials praised. U.S. officials said the disputed weapon is a conventional one based on the Harpoon anti-ship missiles that were sold to Pakistan during the Reagan administration as a defensive weapon, the newspaper reported.
The accusation stems from U.S. intelligence agencies' detection of a "suspicious" missile test on April 23 which was never announced by the Pakistanis and which appeared to give it a new offensive weapon, the Times said. U.S. military and intelligence officials suspect Pakistan of modifying the Harpoon sold to them in the 1980s, which would violate the Arms Control Export Act.
"The focus of our concern is that this is a potential unauthorized modification of a maritime antiship defensive capability to an offensive land-attack missile," another senior administration official told the Times, speaking on condition of anonymity about classified information. "When we have concerns, we act aggressively," the official added. Pakistan denied the charge and said it developed the missile, the Times said. The Times said some experts were also skeptical of the American claims. Robert Hewson, editor of Jane’s Air-Launched Weapons, a yearbook and Web-based data service, said the Harpoon missile did not have the necessary range for a land-attack missile, which would lend credibility to Pakistani claims that they are developing their own new missile.
Moreover, he said, Pakistan already has more modern land-attack missiles that it developed itself or acquired from China. “They’re beyond the need to reverse-engineer old U.S. kit,” Hewson said in a telephone interview. “They’re more sophisticated than that.” Hewson said the ship-to-shore missile that Pakistan was testing was part of a concerted effort to develop an array of conventional missiles that could be fired from the air, land or sea to address India’s much more formidable conventional missile arsenal.
U.S. accuses Pakistan of modifying Harpoon for land-attack
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10 comments:
This is a new worry for India. Our missile technology is not fruitful at all. We are able only to produce a raw missile of 250 Km range after all that hupla for 30 years. We need to reconsider our ploicy towards Pakistan. They can now attack Indian shores at will in case of a war. We can not afford that. We must make a peace with them. I don't care about J&K, a iability for India so far. The safety of our mainland is more importat than J&K.
Comment at 30, 2009 9:03 AM for Anon@3:03 AM
INDIA should be worried is that there are capable people in the pakistani establishments who can take old/junk armaments and turn them into something useful.
I am not welcome on BharatRakshak, because like those arseholes, there are many people in the Indian establishments, who believe that we are superior no matter how much wool we pull over our eyes.
I firmly believe that most of the top people in the Indian military and defence establishments are bathing/wading in their own shit and think it is ganga-jal.
Ashmann, we will discuss Indian capability when capable people in the pakistani establishments have done conquering their own country.
Now why would I be skeptical of INDIA's capabilities, lets say, not having battle tested (recent and not WWII) equipment, neta + mil-brass mismanagement/scandals, unblushing superbia by defence establishments whose accomplishments have a directory sized credits addendum.
I'm not distributing medals and accolades for the pakistanis who are improvising whatever little arsenal they have. I also do not trust any Indian establishment of actually being worth the money thrown at them. I'm not bothered of how pakistanis rape their country, but I am very ashamed of how our bigwigs are screwing ours.
Anonymous_08302009_1043AM to you I say, it will be too late to celebrate the Indian capability because wars are over in few days/weeks/months. And I learnt a lesson a long time ago, the winner is the one who throws the first punch. All the wars, we've fought have not been decisive victories and we were always slapped first. So you can take India's capability and shove it you know where.
The article is not wrong, its only misleading. It's an attempt to alarm and incite the Western governments that Pakistan is doing some thing mischievous, which is true.
Hey Ashmann... in ref to
"I learnt a lesson a long time ago, the winner is the one who throws the first punch." your concept is correct but it is never proved, even in wrold history all the wars who started first got defeated (eg. WWI, WWII, INDO-Pak 1971 etc...
Third world Pakistan imports and assembles weapons systems, India does the same. Whats the difference, none both are third world nations. Get of the internet and go and explore your third world nation.
sab mil ker bolain Pakistan zindabad aur Allah kay fazal o karam sey paindabad.
Interesting blog. I liked it.
This is a ploy when the Americans want to pressure Pakistan the come up with this sort of intelligence.
Americans may have noted M-114/155 mother of all U.S howitzers(range 14/15 km..08/9 miles) a century old piece being used in Waziristan suppose it was fired upon India US will call a UN meeting.Pakistan is no fool to attack land targets in India with a USD 1 million Naval specific missile on some old scap yard on India coast.
State department should have used their brains before buying this sort of intel. from C.I.A
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