"Pakistan's nuclear and missile programme is of defensive nature. We are not in competition with India," the official Associated Press of Pakistan quoted the minister as saying.

Kasuri who returned late Wednesday after attending the Asian Cooperation Dialogue in Thailand at the weekend, was commenting on India's fourth missile test on Wednesday in as many days.

He said Islamabad's nuclear programme was "very advanced in nature and very sophisticated, requiring less of testing.

"We have a very high degree of confidence in our existing assets but the bottomline is we are not in competition and we will test when we need to according to our own timetable."

India Wednesday fired a surface-to-air Trishul missile to gauge its accuracy for the fourth time in as many days. The missile is powered by solid fuel and can deliver a 15-kilogram (33-pound) warhead up to nine kilometres (five miles) away.

SPACE.WIRE