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'Agni test is not a message to Pak'

India's test of its intermediate-range Agni ballistic missile was not intended as a message for its arch-rival neighbour Pakistan, an official from the Indian Embassy in Washington said on Wednesday.

"We don't use missile tests for messages or for sending political messages," Alok Prasad, deputy chief of mission at the Indian Embassy, said.

"It's part of an ongoing programmme, a programme which we have publicly announced in Parliament," he told Reuters after appearing on a panel to discuss "terrorism."

"We have made it clear that we will be conducting periodic tests. This test came after April 1999, which is by any international standard a very restrained pace of development," Prasad said.

It was the second test of an upgraded, longer-range version of the Agni, which has a reach of 1,250 miles (2,000 km).

Pakistan said it felt threatened by the test.

"It is a threat to Pakistan's peace and security," Masood Khan, political counsellor at the Pakistan Embassy, said.

"It is destabilising," he added. Khan attended the same forum sponsored by the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies.

A US official predicted that India's missile test was likely to incur a response-in-kind from Pakistan to test one of its missiles.

"They (India) continue to test medium-range missiles. What's going to happen next? The Pakistanis will probably test one of theirs," the US official said on condition of anonymity.

"It's a continuation of the road they've been on," the official added.

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