** Missile programme

UPA Govt cripples India's missile programme
Daily Pioneer
Sept. 17

Taking the BJP's charge against the UPA Government over India-US civil nuclear deal a step forward, senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh on Tuesday alleged that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has crippled India's missile development programme by committing to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) in two letters to US President Bush early last week.

Singh also sought the PM's explanation claiming he owed one to Parliament.

"President Bush has recently informed the US Congress of India's formal commitment to the MTCR. This was done by the (Indian) Ministry of External Affairs in separate letters on September 8 and 9, 2008.

"This, to say the least, is an alarming announcement. When was the decision made by the UPA Government of virtually abandoning the country's decades-old indigenous programme of missile development?"

Singh, who is also the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said here.

"In formally committing in writing its adherence to the MTCR, Manmohan Singh has crippled, forever, the country's missile development programme. This is a step that follows the already revealed crippling of the nation's nuclear programme by this Government," he said in a statement here.

Jaswant claimed that the MTCR made it mandatory upon its adherents to restrict the development of missiles, complete rocket systems, unmanned air vehicles and related technologies and that the regime limits payloads to 500 kg and range to just 300 km.

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