Islamabad, Feb. 23: Pakistan today successfully test-fired nuclear capable, surface-to-surface ballistic missile system called Hatf VI (Shaheen II).

An official announcement said the Shaheen II, a two-stage solid fuel missile which can carry nuclear and conventional warheads with a range of 2000 km, “was part of continuous process of validation and technical improvement”.

Officials gave no information where the test took place, nor did they say where the target was located.

To underscore the achievement, chairman joint chiefs of staff committee General Ehsan ul-Haq, witnessed the test and congratulated the scientists, engineers and the staff of Pakistan’s Strategic Organisations “on achieving an important milestone in Pakistan’s quest for sustaining strategic balance in South Asia”.

Haq also hailed Pakistan’s “strategy of credible minimum deterrence” as a guarantee of peace in the region.

Shaheen II was first tested in March 2005 and it can carry both nuclear and conventional warheads with “high accuracy,” officials claimed. It is the upgraded version of Shaheen 1, which was first test-fired in April 1998.

, and is believed to have been largely procured from China , which has helped Pakistan in various strategic programmes.

The test was carried two days after India and Pakistan signed an agreement to reduce the risk of an accidental nuclear war in the region.

The other medium-range missile system Pakistan developed alongwith the Shaheen system, is the Ghauri, whose technological specifications resembled those installed on North Korea ’s Nodong missile. Ghauri system had been developed by the Kahutta Research Laboratories in the outskirts of Islamabad , established by Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan.

But ever since the nuclear scandal led to the house arrest of its nuclear scientist – the father of Pakistan’s nuclear programme- over three years ago, the Shaheen System has made more progress and headlines than the Ghauri system, possibly because of the KRL status in the aftermath of the nuclear proliferation scandal.ends