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Pakistan flaunts nuclear cruise missile, catches India unawares

2006-04-05 New Delhi: Pakistan's acquisition of cruise missiles has led India to insist that cruise missile tests must be notified beforehand as a nuclear confidence building measure(CBM).

Navy Chief Admiral Arun Prakash said Pakistan's sudden acquisition of the Babur missiles is a destabilising factor.

"The cruise missile that Pakistan has acquired is very fascinating. We're studying it with great interest," said Prakash.

At the last round of Indo-Pak talks on nuclear CBMs in August 2005, India had no idea that Pakistan had equipped itself with a cruise missile.

Despite Pakistan's suggestion that cruise missile tests must also be notified in advance along with ballistic missile tests, India, which has been testing it's own Brahmos cruise missile since 2001, thought it unnecessary.

Hence, the agreement was restricted to ballistic missile tests.

Barely a week after the agreement, Pakistan sprung a surprise on India and the world by announcing its arrival as a cruise missile power by firing the Babur.

The second test firing last month has convinced India that cruise missiles now have to be brought under the umbrella of nuclear CBMs. This tops the agenda of the next round of nuclear talks in Islamabad in May.

"A cruise cruise missile would destabilise the deterrent," says Prakash.

The worry is that the next arms race between India and Pakistan will be in the category of cruise missiles.

With Islamabad already declaring its intention to nuclear-tip the Babur, the prospects are ominous.

Unlike ballistic missiles, the terrain-hugging cruise missiles are difficult to detect and are also deadly accurate. This is bad news for nuclear deterrence in the sub-continent.

India now faces a new threat. A nuclear tipped Babur will force India to rework its deterrence strategy.

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