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Pakistan said on Wednesday that it was against the militarisation of outer space, hours after India’s announcement of shooting down a live satellite with a missile – a rare achievement that puts the country in an exclusive club of space super powers.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier announced that India successfully test-fired an anti-satellite missile by shooting down a live satellite.
The test makes India the fourth country in the world after the US, Russia and China to acquire the strategic capability to shoot down enemy satellites.
“Space is the common heritage of mankind and every nation has the responsibility to avoid actions which can lead to the militarisation of this arena,” Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said in a statement.
He said Pakistan was a “strong proponent of the United Nations resolution on Prevention of Arms Race in Outer Space”.
“Boasting of such capabilities (to destroy satellite) is reminiscent of Don Quixote’s tilting against windmills,” he said, referring to India’s test.
“We hope that countries which have in the past strongly condemned demonstration of similar capabilities by others will be prepared to work towards developing international instruments to prevent military threats relating to outer space,” Faisal said, without naming any country.
In New Delhi, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement that India has no intention of entering into an arms race in outer space.
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A day after a videotape as part of its sting operation on demonetisation was played out by opposition parties, Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday hit out at the Congress and said the BJP will initiate legal action against the “conspiracy-driven election campaign” of the Congress.
“I would like to state here, BJP is taking legal advice. We are taking every possible advice so that institutions and individuals who are part of this conspiracy to defame BJP, we will take them to the court. We will take action on them legally. We are not going to let this story down,” Sitharaman told media at a press conference here.
“Congress did a sting operation and made it public on Tuesday, through TNN World, a website-based news portal. This was the same website which showed live Kapil Sibal’s press conference on EVM, in January. This website was registered in December 2018,” Sitharaman added.
The minister further claimed a Romanian is the director of the website.
“Exposure on demonetisation on Tuesday was shown on this website only. This website is registered for only a year. Maybe Congress has planned to close it after elections. Congress has adopted a conspiracy-driven election campaign. I am very grateful to the media for not giving more than a minute to their conspiracy-driven campaign,” she said.
The minister told reporters that the website registered in December 2018 had also shown live Kapil Sibal’s press conference on EVM, in January.
The opposition parties on Tuesday played a videotape at a press conference purportedly showing an alleged BJP worker in Ahmedabad exchanging the banned notes with the new denominations in lieu of a sum.
Congress leader Kapil Sibal said the tape exposed the alleged involvement of the BJP in demonetization and that it was done to benefit the saffron party.
He also accused the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre of swindling public money, terming it “treason”. Sibal also accused the government of misusing government machinery, including police and banks to work in favour of the BJP.
The leaders of the opposition parties present at the press conference included Sharad Yadav from Loktantrik Janata Dal, Hemant Soren of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Manoj Jha from Rashtriya Janata Dal, Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjun Kharge from the Congress.
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Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday slammed Congress for claiming that the process to develop anti-satellite (ASAT) missile began during previous UPA government, saying that Manmohan Singh government had refused to give permission for the testing of its capability.
“All process started after 2014 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved it,” the Union Minister said terming today’s test of ASAT missile as “monumental” and “historic” day for the country.
“Our scientists wanted this (test to be conducted) earlier too. They had even said that we have this capability but Government of India is not allowing us and that is why we are not able to develop it,” Jaitley said addressing a press conference here.
He cited media reports published on April 21, 2012 to enforce his point that previous governments withheld permission for this test to be conducted.
“The Congress leader patting their backs should remember that VK Saraswat (then DRDO chief) said we now have the capacity to develop an anti-satellite missile but the government has not permitted us to do so,” said the Union Minister who is also a member of Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS).
“Those who are wrongly patting themselves for their failures should remember that footprints of their lies do get exposed. Our scientists were ready for this since last decade but previous governments didn’t have the clarity to approve it,” he added.
Taking a dig at other opposition leaders for suggesting that this could have happened after the elections, the Union Minister said, “The lower they go, the stronger we emerge and as far as the issue of EC is concerned, let me say that India’s nuclear programme is a continuous process. It cannot be put to halt if it does not suit the West Bengal Chief Minister.”
“When finger points at the moon, the idiot always points to the finger,” he said slamming the Opposition for raising “clerical objections”.
Jaitley said the Opposition has lost one more chance to “correct” its mistakes when they questioned the Centre over the Pulwama terror attack and Balakot air strike.
“Can anybody argue that this sensitive programme (ASAT missile) should have been known to anyone else other than those in command? It is regrettable that elementary lessons of national security are not known to my friends in the opposition,” the Union Minister said while rejecting allegations that BJP was politicising the test.
Lauding Prime Minister Narendra Modi and all the scientists and labs involved in the mission, Finance Minister said, “It is a historic day for our nation and especially for our scientists because they have achieved a capability which was earlier only with three countries. The Prime Minister also deserves compliments for this. He is advancing the country’s security doctrine.”
Commenting on the geo-strategic conditions, he said, “India is a peace-loving country. Just like our nuclear capability, this too is a deterrent capability. We have become the fourth country to achieve this capability. With this capability, we are able to compel others to keep peace in the region.”
“We are in the geopolitical situation where our preparedness is our deterrent and security. Everything was made in the country and researched here. We must remember that tomorrow’s wars will not be the same as yesterday’s wars,” the Union Minister added.
Asked as to why the Prime Minister did the announcement, he said, “Deterrents has to be known to all concerned and for a deterrent of this kind, there is no better person than the Prime Minister to inform the world about it”.
Jaitley said, “This country should remain prepared for cyber and space wars.” The world was aware of India being a responsible nuclear power, he underlined.
The Minister also assured that the debris due to the test will be cleared within three weeks.
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Minutes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Wednesday that India has entered the super league of space countries; politicians across parties congratulated the government on India’s landmark success.
Former DRDO Chief and NITI Aayog member Dr VK Saraswat said, “This is a fantastic capability to have and it gives us a deterrence in case our adversaries try to militarise the space or try to prevent us from using our existing space capabilities.”
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said “It’s a historic day. India has emerged as a big space power for which all the scientists and the Prime Minister, in particular, deserve full praise. I compliment the scientists and the Prime Minister.”
We have mastered anti-satellite capability and we have today shown that we can hit satellites at long ranges with a few centimetres accuracy,” said DRDO chairman G Satheesh Reddy.
We congratulate @isro & the Govt on the latest achievement for India. The Indian Space Programme established in 1961 by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru & the Indian Space Research Organisation set up under Smt. Indira Gandhi has always made India proud with its ground breaking achievements.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Wednesday that India can now defend itself in space as its scientists had mastered the anti-satellite technology by shooting down a live low-earth orbit satellite.
By doing so – and that too in just three minutes — India had entered the elite club of space countries USA, China and Russia, The Prime Minister said. The satellite was orbiting at an altitude of 300 kilometres.
The Prime Minister addressed the nation to announce this – after an unprecedented advertisement on Twitter about an “important message” he had to give to the country.
Government sources told ANI that the A-Sat weapon was launched at 11.16 am on Wednesday and targetted an Indian satellite which had been decommissioned.
The Prime Minister said in his address to the nation: “This is a big moment for India. We should be proud of it. We can not only defend ourselves on land, water and air but also now in space. This has made India a stronger nation.”
“India has entered the super league of space powers by doing this,” the Prime Minister said. The operation — that proved India’s ability to secure itself from any space attack — was called Mission Shakti. The missilie was launched from the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s testing unit in Odisha’s Balasore.
To be able to demonstrate anti-satellite missile capability is a rare achievement, Prime Minister Modi said, emphasising that the action was not directed against any country. “I assure the international community that our capability won’t be used against anyone but is purely India’s defence initiative for its security,” Modi said in his televised speech.
“There can be no greater pride for the country,” PM Modi said in his address.
The Prime Minister’s announcement came as the country enters the active campaigning phase to the general elections that begin on April 11 and end on May 19. Counting of votes will take place on May 23.
The tenure of the current government will end on May 22.
