Pakistan test-fires short-range ballistic missile

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan says it has successfully tested a short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

The military said Wednesday the NASR is a high-precision weapons system with the ability for quick deployment and a range of 70 kilometres, or 43.5 miles. It added that this system will augment credible deterrence against prevailing threats more effectively.

Army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, who was at the launch, said that Pakistan will go to any lengths to ensure regional peace and stability and underlined the missiles are meant to stress that war is not an option.

He also said that Pakistan’s strategic capability is a guarantee of peace against a highly militarized and belligerent neighbour — an obvious reference to archenemy India.

The two became nuclear powers in the late 1990s.