ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Sunday rejected an allegation that it had illegally modified US-made Harpoon missiles to enhance its ability to attack land targets, including in India, saying "no modification has been made to the missiles under reference".
The Foreign Office spokesman "rejected the accusation" in the report in The New York Times that Pakistan had illegally modified Harpoon anti-ship missiles, originally meant for defensive purposes, to strike targets on land.
In a brief statement, the spokesman said "no modification has been made to the missiles under reference".
The report in the Times said the US administration made an unpublicised diplomatic protest in late June to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and other top Pakistani officials over the modification of the missiles.
The modified version could "strike land targets" and posed "a potential threat to India," the report quoted senior US administration and Congressional officials as saying.
The US has sold a total of 165 Harpoon missiles to Pakistan. The missiles were provided to Pakistan by the US administration as a defensive weapon in the Cold War era.
The accusation came at "a particularly delicate time," when the US administration is asking Congress to approve USD 7.5 billion in aid to Pakistan over next five years, and "when Washington is pressing a reluctant Pakistani military to focus its attentions on fighting Taliban, rather than expanding its nuclear and conventional forces aimed at India".
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/world/pakistan/No-modification-made-to-Harpoon-missile-Pakistan/articleshow/4951527.cms
The Foreign Office spokesman "rejected the accusation" in the report in The New York Times that Pakistan had illegally modified Harpoon anti-ship missiles, originally meant for defensive purposes, to strike targets on land.
In a brief statement, the spokesman said "no modification has been made to the missiles under reference".
The report in the Times said the US administration made an unpublicised diplomatic protest in late June to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and other top Pakistani officials over the modification of the missiles.
The modified version could "strike land targets" and posed "a potential threat to India," the report quoted senior US administration and Congressional officials as saying.
The US has sold a total of 165 Harpoon missiles to Pakistan. The missiles were provided to Pakistan by the US administration as a defensive weapon in the Cold War era.
The accusation came at "a particularly delicate time," when the US administration is asking Congress to approve USD 7.5 billion in aid to Pakistan over next five years, and "when Washington is pressing a reluctant Pakistani military to focus its attentions on fighting Taliban, rather than expanding its nuclear and conventional forces aimed at India".
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/world/pakistan/No-modification-made-to-Harpoon-missile-Pakistan/articleshow/4951527.cms
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