The very fact that a developing country with no demonstrated expertise in rocket sciences has tested two missiles with such varying technologies indicates that the programme is based more on development through procurement rather than research, said well-informed government sources.

Pakistan predictably tested its Ghauri-II and Shaheen-I missiles after the flight of India's Agni-II. But testing these two missiles, sourced from two squabbling laboratories, using different fuel systems and tested from different sites, has raised more questions about Pakistan's programme than its answers.

Besides the striking similarities between the two missiles tested, and their Chinese and North Korean equivalents, the fact that Samar Mubarakmand, head of the Pakistan AtomicEnergy Commission made an emergency visit to China on last Monday and Tuesday is the clearest indicator of external help.

While the pedigree of the Ghauri missiles, a design claimed by the Kahuta Research Laboratory (KRL) headed by AQ Khan, has been confirmed as from the North Korean Nodong series, the solid-fuelled Shaheen is widely regarded to be from the Chinese M-9 system.

Pakistan's claim of having tested a second extended range version of the Ghauri, after the first test one year ago, only adds to the gist that the pedigree is North Korean. ``They made a claim of flight of 1,100 km from Malute to the Mekran mountains in Baluchistan for the Ghauri test last year, which is also the figure for the Nodong-I, and now they say 1,700 for Ghauri-II, which is the same as the published range for Nodong-II, said an Air Force official.

Since August 1997, two North Korean companies have been under sanctions by the US for `missile technology proliferationactivities'. The US notification, curiously enough, did not mention which country had received the technology. It only became clear after the test last year, when North Korea and KRL were placed under sanctions by the US. The solid-fuelled Shaheen-I, claimed a success by Samar Mubarakmand on the other hand, has an uncanny design and performance similarity with the Chinese M-9 medium range ballistic missile. At the inception of its ballistic missile development programme in the mid-1980s, Pakistan had claimed that it was developing a Half-III capable of reaching 600 km. ``That missile never saw the light of day. What we had instead was the sudden appearance of a Shaheen capable of virtually the same performance. And both, coincidentally, match the Chinese M-9,'' said South Block source.

In November 1996, the US Congressional Research Staff had reported that China had provided blueprints and equipment for a missile production facility at Fatehgunj, near Rawalpindi. And in June 1997,Time magazine reported that in end-1995 the US Central Intelligence Agency had found a facility under construction near Rawalpindi, the layout of which was similar to an M-II production in Hubei, central China. ``Which then implies that the facility could also be making the Shaheen series. The plant would obviously be handling missiles from the same stable, for after all, they would be using the same fuel and other components that are common. And the M-9 is definitely from the same stable as the M-II,'' said the source. Pakistan has renamed the town housing the facility to Fatehjung! The logic of a simultaneous two-path missile development programme as attempted by Pakistan is, thus, explained by well-informed sources as one designed to beat procurement restrictions rather than being cost effective. ``By going this route, what Pakistan is doing is to enable itself to have a multi-sourced programme with multi-front procurement possibilities.

Any country with its own indigenous programme wouldhave concentrated its research and development facilities under one organisation and head. But that would make it vulnerable to technology restrictions, as is our experience. It is obvious, then, that Pakistan is following this route to beat sanctions and restrictions as and when they crop up. Which only underlines the fact that their programmes are based on procuring technologies, rather than independent development,'' said the South Block source.