Pakistan on Wednesday accused India of destroying a satellite to demonstrate its growing strategic military power.
A spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry stressed that Pakistan was against weaponizing what he called the common heritage of mankind and that every country had the responsibility to avoid actions that could lead to the militarization of space, reports Efe news.
“Pakistan has been a strong proponent of preventing an arms race in outer space,” the spokesperson said.
“We believe that there is a need to address gaps in the international space laws with a view to ensuring that no one threatens peaceful activities and applications of space technologies for socio-economic development,” he added.
Without naming India, the spokesperson said that boasting of such capabilities was “reminiscent of Don Quixote’s tilting against windmills,” a reference to the iconic protagonist of Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes’ 17th century masterpiece.
BEIJING, Nov. 3, 2018 () — Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) holds talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is paying an official visit to China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Nov. 3, 2018. (/Pang Xinglei/)
FILE – In this Saturday, July 21, 2018 file photo, Pakistani politician Imran Khan, chief of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, arrives to address an election campaign rally in Islamabad, Pakistan. A Pakistani government spokesman says on Monday, Dec. 3, 2018 President Donald Trump has reached out to Prime Minister Khan, sending him a letter seeking Islamabad’s cooperation in bringing the Taliban to negotiating table to end the 17-year war in neighboring Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed, File)
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks during the World Government Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019. Khan on Sunday met with the head of the International Monetary Fund and later told a crowd that Pakistan needed “painful” fiscal reforms in order to deal with its soaring debt. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)
Imran Khan. (File Photo: )
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s statement regarding Pulwama militant attack. (Photo: Twitter/@pid_gov)
FILE – In this March 31, 2002 file photo, Former Pakistani cricket stars and winners of World Cup 1992, Imran Khan, left, and Javed Miandad chat at a reception to celebrate the 10 years anniversary of victory at the World Cup 1992, in Lahore, Pakistan. “Honesty is the one word which sums up Imran Khan’s whole life,” Khan’s long-time teammate, Javed Miandad, told The Associated Press. Khan’s crowning glory was to drive the team to its first and only Cricket World Cup triumph in 1992. He immediately retired from Pakistan duty at age 39, opened a cancer hospital in memory of his mother two years later, and launched his political party, Tehreek-e-Insaf four years later. On Thursday, July 26, 2018, Khan’s party took a commanding lead in the Pakistan general election and he was set to become the first international cricketer in the world to be elected as a country’s prime minister, considered the second toughest job in Pakistan. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary,file)
A police commando walks past the huge billboards showing the portraits of Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, center, former President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, left, and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan to welcome crown prince to Islamabad, Pakistan, Sunday, Jan. 6, 2019. Abu Dhabi’s crown prince is in Islamabad on daylong trip to discuss bilateral, International and regional issues with Pakistani leadership. Prince likely to announce billions to help Pakistani economy stabilized during visit. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks during a joint news conference with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Ankara, Turkey, Friday, Jan. 4, 2019. Erdogan says his country will host the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan for a meeting geared toward bringing peace to Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)
Pakistan’s former captain Imran Khan, left receives flowers from West Bengal state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee ahead of the ICC World Twenty20 2016 cricket match between India and Pakistan at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, India, Saturday, March 19, 2016. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, left, and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan walk together during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Saturday, Nov. 3, 2018. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
A Sikh pilgrim visits the shrine of their spiritual leader Guru Nanak Dev in Kartarpur, Pakistan, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2018. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the first visa-free border crossing with India, a corridor that will allow Sikh pilgrims to easily visit their shrines on each side of the border. The crossing, known as the Kartarpur corridor is a rare sign of cooperation between the two nuclear-armed rival countries.(AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
Newly elected Chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board Ehsan Mani addresses a news conference in Lahore, Pakistan, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018. Mani was officially elected unopposed as the chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board on Tuesday. Prime minister Imran Khan, who is also patron of the PCB, nominated Mani as the member of the Board of Governors last month after Najam Sethi resigned as the PCB chairman. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
Pakistan’s state-run news channel PTV ran “Begging” dateline instead of “Beijing” on screen during the live broadcast of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s speech in China and became a target of trolling by netizens.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, right and United Arab Emirates Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed, attend the opening of the Future Investment Initiative conference, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2018. A high-profile economic forum in Saudi Arabia has begun in Riyadh, the kingdom’s first major event on the world stage since the killing of writer Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul earlier this month. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. (File Photo: XINHUA/)
Pakistani opposition leader and Chief of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, Imran Khan, center, leaves the Supreme Court in Islamabad, Pakistan, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2016. The court resumed hearing petitions seeking Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s resignation. The premier has faced mounting public pressure to step down since some of his relatives were named as holders of offshore bank accounts in leaked financial documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash)
Pakistani politician Imran Khan, chief of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, speaks to media after casting his vote at a polling station for the parliamentary elections in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, July 25, 2018. After an acrimonious campaign, polls opened in Pakistan on Wednesday to elect the country’s third straight civilian government, a first for this majority Muslim nation that has been directly or indirectly ruled by its military for most of its 71-year history. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
FILE – In this May 10, 1995 file photo, supporters of former Pakistani cricketer-cum-politician Imran Khan, shower rose petals at Taxila near Islamabad. He won the cricket World Cup for Pakistan in 1992 when the country’s prime minister was Nawaz Sharif. Twenty six years later the charismatic Imran Khan is all set to become the first cricketer in the world to be elected as a country’s prime minister in Wednesday, July 25, 2018 elections. (AP Photo/B.K.Bangash, File)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that India had successfully tested a space missile system by striking a Low Earth Orbit satellite, an act that he said propelled India as a space power.
Modi said that with the successful test, India had become the fourth space power with such capability after the US, Russia and China.