report Pakistan's newly-developed intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM), known as Ghauri, will be unveiled next March on Pakistan Day, the Indian news agency PTI reported from Islamabad on Saturday, quoting a Pakistani report.

The anniversary marks the proclamation of the republic in 1956.

PTI said the missile, which has a range of up to 2,000 km, can carry nuclear or chemical warheads and can be targeted at "every major Indian city".

It can also be used as an air-to-surface missile.

Ghauri, "reportedly developed mainly to counter India's Prithvi missiles", will be displayed as a demonstration of Islamabad's defence capability, the Pakistani report said, according to PTI.

"Though the Pakistani report claims that Ghauri has been fully developed by Pakistani scientists with indigenous technology, Islamabad's long tie-up with Beijing for missile technology is a well-established fact," the agency said.

The missile is equipped with the latest guidance technology and the necessary changes in the F-series of Pakistan air force fighters have already been carried out for mounting it, the report said.

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.
 

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