India Test-Fires Ballistic Missile With Nuclear Capability

The Indian government today test-fired a ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to targets in China and Pakistan, a provocative move certain to inflame relations in the region.

The test of the missile, named the Agni II, comes almost a year after the Indian government stunned the world by testing five nuclear warheads. Those tests prompted Pakistan to test its own nuclear warheads, and a prolonged international crisis ensued.

The Agni also seems likely to increase tensions with India’s northern neighbor, China. And the Indian government has already deployed a missile, named the Prithvi, capable of hitting many targets in Pakistan.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Pramod Mahajan was quoted as saying that India had informed Pakistan before the launch, as it had agreed to do when the prime ministers of the two countries signed a pact in February.

The announcement seems certain to anger U.S. officials, who had been urging India and Pakistan to restrain the arms race between them. A cessation of missile tests has been one of the conditions set down by the U.S. for a lifting of economic sanctions imposed after the nuclear tests.

“We would regret that India has decided to test-fly this extended range of the Agni missile,” a U.S. Embassy official in New Delhi told Reuters today. “India has said it wants to avoid a nuclear missile race with its neighbors. We hope India will show restraint consistent with its declared intentions.”

The missile test also came as India’s coalition government, led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, is on the verge of collapse. A key coalition partner has threatened to withdraw from the ruling alliance, which could precipitate the government’s collapse. BJP leaders, who came to power promising to restore India’s national pride, have spent the past two weeks trying to rally public support.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who came to power 13 months ago, won a burst of public support for his government amid the immediate euphoria of the May nuclear tests.

“The missile test might be a coincidence, or it might be intended as a diversion from the present political turmoil,” said Savita Pandey, a defense expert in New Delhi.

The Agni is believed capable of carrying a 2,000-pound warhead about 1,375 miles. It was launched today from a testing center off the eastern Indian seacoast, Mahajan told a news conference.

“I am happy to announce that India today has successfully launched IRBM [intermediate-range ballistic missile], which is Agni II,” Mahajan said. “The launch took place at 10 a.m. And it was perfect in textbook fashion.”

An earlier version of the Agni, with a significantly shorter range, was tested in February 1994. The Indian government has refrained from further testing, and successive Indian governments had since been accused of shelving the project under international pressure.

The United States has pressed India and Pakistan to sign an international test ban treaty, back away from developing their delivery systems and resolve territorial and other disputes.

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Wire reports contributed to this story.