Pakistan successfully test-fires nuclear capable ballistic Shaheen-1A missile

-Dr. Abdul Ruff

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Interestingly, India and Pakistan continue to “talk and fight”, maybe deliberately making no headways in bilateral ties, except cross border trade and mutual visits and good food, but the tensions  make the life of besieged Kashmiris more and more difficult.  

Even as India got Pakistan to somehow restart the bilateral “talks” like old wine in old bottles,  Pakistan on December 16 successfully test-fired a nuclear capable ballistic missile with a range of 900 kilometres, days after testing a similar missile capable of hitting targets as far as 2,750 kilometres away, bringing many Indian cities under its range.

Since 1947 India and Pakistan intermittently conducted inconclusive “talks”, first by keeping the explosive Kashmir issue that has been  a flashpoint in  bilateral tensions and because of that both continue to fail at talking table and, then,  also talking Kashmir as well. The talks always ended in cross fires at the LOC and bloody wars between them, killing thousands, including Kashmiris.

Both India and Pakistan, now nuclear powers, occupy Jammu Kashmir and, therefore, are not in a mood to  resolve the Kashmir issue genuinely because  both refuse to quit Kashmir  lands and drawback their respective militaries back to their own territories  as of 1947 when both gained independence from Great Britain.  

Indo Pakistan  standoff by ways of wars and cross fires  at the LOC has kept the Kashmiris  completely terrorized. Since UN thinks it has no worthwhile role to play in resolving the long pending crisis harming  peace in South Asia.

The Shaheen-1A ballistic missile was fired from an undisclosed location with impact in the Arabian Sea. "The flight test was aimed at re-validating several design and technical parameters of the weapon system," the army said in a statement. "It is capable of delivering different types of warheads to a range of 900 kilometers," it said.

The launch was witnessed by senior officers from Strategic Plans Division, strategic forces, scientists and engineers of strategic organisations.

Director General Strategic Plans Division, Lieutenant General Mazhar Jamil, congratulated scientists and engineers for the successful launch. He said Shaheen-1A with its sophisticated and advanced guidance system makes it a highly accurate missile system. He reiterated that Pakistan's strategic capabilities are based on credible minimum deterrence and desire for peaceful co-existence in the region.

Last week, Pakistan had test-fired the medium-range Shaheen-III surface-to-surface ballistic missile which can carry nuclear warheads up to 2,750 km.

India, as always, would soon come out with a more precise missile testing as a “fitting” reply to Pakistani readiness. And soon there would also be  cross first at the borders. . Obviously, there  been a stiff competition between the South Asian nuclear powers in testing latest updated missiles, thereby making it clear to the world that they are going to leave  their military positions in Jammu Kashmir.  

India has got more resources than Pakistan to test more missiles but Pakistan is on record stating that Pakistanis would  even “eat grass” to save money in order  to protect their  nation from enemies.

USA and other major powers are not really committed to world peace because peace endangers profit making spree from arms sales. And tell India and Pakistan, as a mere gimmick, that they must resolve the issue by themselves and “foreigners’ would not step in because Indian influences them all. They appear  also to cite Palestine issue saying Kashmir issue  is not more  important than Palestine which they refuse to settle.

So what is the real solution?