Pakistan rejects US claims on ballistic missile programme as ‘baseless’

Pakistan has rejected claims by a senior US official regarding its ballistic missile programme, labelling them as baseless and counterproductive to bilateral ties. In a statement on Saturday, Pakistan foreign ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said that these allegations are “unfounded, devoid of rationality and sense of history”. Her reaction comes after senior White House official Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer said that Pakistan was developing a long-range missile that could strike targets beyond South Asia, making it an “emerging threat” to the US. “The alleged threat perception from Pakistan’s missile capabilities and delivery means raised by the US official are unfortunate,” she said.