"We have stated before that India is the proliferator in this region. India is the one which is proliferating the missile program," foreign ministry spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan told a press briefing.

"It is better that the international community gives attention to it and prevents India from this relentless pursuit of more and more weapons."

Indian Defence minister George Fernandes told the Press Trust of India (PTI) Sunday a third variant of the long-range Agni missile, Agni III, would be tested.

The Agni is capable of hitting Pakistani as well as Chinese cities.

India and Pakistan conducted tit-for-tat tests of their short range missiles on March 26 as new tensions gripped the hostile neighbours following the massacre of 24 Hindus in the insurgency-wracked Indian zone of Kashmir.

India had already test-fired four missiles this year before the March 26 tests.

The hostile neighbours, who have fought three wars since they gained independence from Britain in 1947, both tested nuclear devices in 1998.

Pakistan's own missile program is under intense international scrutiny following a host of allegations by unnamed US officials that it purchased missiles from North Korea in exchange for nuclear technology.

The US State Department last week said North Korea had imported missile-related technology to Pakistan's A.Q.Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), considered the hub of the country's nuclear program. The transfer prompted sanctions from Washington on KRL and Pyongyang, announced March 31.

Pakistan has denied receiving North Korean missiles and Khan insisted Monday that Pakistan's missile program was indigenous.

SPACE.WIRE