Pakistan to create military force to oversee missiles after India conflict

LAHORE, Aug 14 (Reuters): Pakistan will create a new force in the military to supervise missile combat capabilities in a conventional conflict, apparently a move to match neighbouring arch-rival India.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced the creation of the Army Rocket Force late Wednesday at a ceremony held in Islamabad to commemorate the conflict with India in May, the worst in decades.

The ceremony was held a day ahead of Pakistan's 78th Independence Day. The force "will be equipped with modern technology," Sharif said in a statement from his office.

"This force, capable of targeting the enemy from all sides, will prove to be yet another milestone with regard to further strengthening our conventional war capability," he said later in a speech broadcast on Thursday by local TV news channels. He did not give any further details.

A senior security official, however, said that the force would have its own command in the military which will be dedicated to handling and deployment of missiles in any event of a conventional war. "It is obvious that it is meant for India," he said.

The two nuclear-armed nations have kept upgrading their military capabilities, fuelling a longstanding rivalry since their independence from British rule in 1947.