A triumphant India test-fired a new ballistic missile yesterday, exactly 11 months after undertaking nuclear tests.
Despite expressions of concern from Pakistan, Japan and the United States, the Indian Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, said the launch was "a purely defensive step". The Agni-II ballistic missile, with a range of more than 2,000 km, was launched at 9.47 a.m. (05.17 Irish time) from the Wheeler's Island test range in the eastern state of Orissa.
"The advanced version of Agni, India's intermediate-range ballistic missile, was test-fired this morning. The test was successful in every count," Mr Vajpayee said in a televised address.
"It is not meant for aggression against any nation. Rather, Agni is proof of our determination to strengthen our national security so comprehensively that we can defend ourselves."
Mr Vajpayee said India could not depend on other nations to defend it and had to develop its own weapons "in a rapidly changing security environment".
Mr Vajpayee reiterated that India was committed to "minimum deterrence, to no first use of nuclear weapons, and never to use them against non-nuclear weapon states". "In order to reinforce the climate of confidence in the world about India's defence security programme, my government had in advance informed the government of Pakistan, along with all the major powers, on April 9th, of our decision to test-launch Agni II," Mr Vajpayee said.
The Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes, described the launch as a great day for India.
"We have reached a point from where no one from anywhere will threaten us any more," Mr Fernandes said.
He said the Agni-II, which in theory can reach any part of Pakistan, could carry a "special weapons payload" and had state-of-the-art navigation and guidance controls.
Pakistan, with whom India has fought three wars since independence, reacted with concern.
"This introduces a new weapons system in the subcontinent," the Pakistan Foreign Minister, Mr Sartaj Aziz, said in Islamabad. "Obviously it is a matter of concern for us," he said, adding that Pakistan was considering how to respond to the development.
Japan and the US echoed Pakistan's views.
"We fear it may impede regional peace and stability and we deeply regret it," the Japanese foreign ministry spokesman, Mr Sadaaki Numata, said.
White House spokeswoman Ms Nanda Chitre said the Agni-II test-firing "appears to be out of step with recent political developments in the region". "We regret the decision to go ahead with this test," she said, while noting that India had informed the US of its plans to test the missile.
But "while we appreciate India's efforts to provide transparency . . . the United States believes concrete restraints by India would further positive relations among countries in the region," she said.
Indian defence analysts, however, said the test was "long overdue".
"We are testing Agni after more than five years," Mr Jasjit Singh, head of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, said.