WASHINGTON, July 1: Pakistan will either have to acquire its own missile defence system or increase its missile capabilities if the United States provides a missile defence system to India, Ambassador Jehangir Karamat told Dawn on Friday.

On Wednesday, the US and India signed a 10-year defence pact that entails joint weapons production, cooperation on missile defence and the transfer of technology.

“Some elements of this agreement do concerns us,” said Gen Karamat, who headed the Pakistani armed forces during the May 1998 nuclear crisis when Pakistan decided to conduct a series of nuclear tests in response to similar tests by India.

The ambassador recalled that India has been trying to acquire PAC-3 missile defence system from the US for sometime and the defence pact signed this week does have a provision for bilateral cooperation in the field of missile defence.

“This will be a new element in South Asia. Although India has been talking about missile defence for sometime, the pact could lead to a transfer of systems, such as PAC-3, which will disturb the strategic balance of power,” said Gen Karamat. “We will not be able to ignore this, and will have to take steps to protect our deterrence capability,” he said.

Patriot Advanced Capability-3 or PAC-3 is a missile defence system that relies on kinetic energy to eliminate short and medium-range missiles carrying nuclear, biological and chemical warheads.

The US had already offered to sell second-generation PAC-2 missile defence system to India but New Delhi did not appear much interested in the system and latest report indicate that Washington has now agreed in principle to sell the advanced PAC-3 system to New Delhi.

“If India gets PAC-3, we will either have to ask the US also to provide the same system to us or we will have to think of other ways to have our own missile defence,” said Ambassador Karamat.