Missile Production Plan Put on Hold

India, under pressure from the United States to roll back its ballistic weapons program, said it would not produce its intermediate-range Agni missile unless the nation’s security was threatened. Analysts said the decision to shelve the surface-to-surface missile, believed capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, will help keep a lid on tension in South Asia but open the government to attack by domestic hard-liners. The United States has urged New Delhi to halt missile testing permanently, fearing an arms race in the area. India detonated a nuclear device in 1974 but says it has not built a nuclear bomb.