Russia, Pakistan call for international efforts to avoid military confrontation in space

A month after Islamabad expressed concern over India's anti-satellite missile test, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday signed a joint statement on no-first placement of weapons in outer space, on the side-lines of the SCO foreign ministers' meet in Bishkek.

The two countries have agreed to "make all possible efforts to prevent Outer Space from becoming an arena for military confrontation and to ensure security in Outer Space activities".

The development came against the backdrop of recent anti-satellite tests conducted by India, which Pakistan considers "a matter of grave concern" and "it would also be amiss to ignore the military dimension of such actions and its implications on the global and regional peace, stability and security".

"The use of force against space-based objects, the development and deployment of Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) systems and their integration into space assets have added worrying dimensions to the issues relating to Outer Space", the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said, while obliquely indicating the anti-satellite test that brought India's sophistication in the realm of ballistic missile defence up a notch.

Russia and Pakistan have agreed to take an urgent step to address gaps in the international legal regime that governs the exploration and use of outer space to ensure peaceful activities and applications of space technologies only for socio-economic development.

The state-funded Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on 27 March claimed that an indigenously developed ballistic missile defence (BMD) interceptor missile had successfully engaged an Indian target satellite in low earth orbit in "Hit to Kill" mode. The interceptor missile was a three-stage missile with two solid rocket boosters. India claimed that the test was aimed at defending its assets in outer space.

Source: RIA Novosti

Related Links
Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Military Space News at SpaceWar.com

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