Pakistan on Sunday rejected US government claims that it illegally modified American-made missiles and said the accusations were part of a campaign to "malign it and its armed forces".
Modifications to anti-ship missiles made them capable of hitting land-based targets and thus threatening India, The New York Times said Saturday.
Citing unnamed senior administration and congressional officials, the newspaper said the accusation was made in an unpublicized diplomatic protest delivered in late June to Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
"It appears to be a campaign by design to malign Pakistan and the armed forces to achieve some purpose," a senior Pakistani security official told AFP, asking not be named.
He said the Harpoon missiles were meant for maritime use and "there is no credible information to suggest that the navy might have changed the original purpose of the missile."
The New York Times said the missiles were sold to Pakistan by the administration of former US president Ronald Reagan as a defensive weapon during the Cold War in the 1980s.
US military and intelligence officials said they suspect that Pakistan has modified the missiles in a manner that would be a violation of the Arms Control Export Act in the United States, the paper said.
According to the report, US intelligence agencies detected on April 23 a suspicious missile test that appeared to indicate that Pakistan had a new offensive weapon.
The United States has also accused Pakistan of modifying US-made P-3C aircraft for land-attack missions, another violation of US law that the administration of President Barack Obama has protested, the report said.
earlier related report
US accuses Pakistan of illegally modifying missiles: report
The US government has accused Pakistan of illegally modifying US-made antiship missiles to make them capable of striking land targets and thus creating a new threat for India, The New York Times reported late Saturday.
Citing unnamed senior administration and congressional officials, the newspaper said the accusation was made in an unpublicized diplomatic protest delivered in late June to Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani.
At the center of the row were Harpoon antiship missiles that were sold to Pakistan by the administration of former US president Ronald Reagan as a defensive weapon during the Cold War in the 1980s, the report said.
US military and intelligence officials say they suspect that Pakistan has modified the missiles in a manner that would be a violation of the Arms Control Export Act, the paper said.
Pakistan has denied the charge, saying it developed the missile itself. But according to the report, US intelligence agencies detected on April 23 a suspicious missile test that appeared to indicate that Pakistan had a new offensive weapon.
The missile would be a significant new entry into Pakistan's arsenal against India, The Times said. It would enable Pakistan's navy to strike targets on land, complementing the sizable land-based missile arsenal that Pakistan has developed.
That, in turn, would be likely to spur another round of an arms race between the nuclear-armed rivals that the United States has been trying to halt, the paper noted.
"The potential for proliferation and end-use violations are things we watch very closely," The Times quotes an administration official as saying. "When we have concerns, we act aggressively."
The United States has also accused Pakistan of modifying US-made P-3C aircraft for land-attack missions, another violation of US law that the administration of President Barack Obama has protested, the report said.
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