New Delhi (Sputnik): A month after Islamabad expressed concern over India's anti-satellite missile test, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday signed a joint statement on no-first placement of weapons in outer space, on the side-lines of the SCO foreign ministers' meet in Bishkek.
The two countries have agreed to "make all possible efforts to prevent Outer Space from becoming an arena for military confrontation and to ensure security in Outer Space activities".
READ MORE: Analysts Fear Tensions in Space After India Tests Anti-Satellite Missile
"The use of force against space-based objects, the development and deployment of Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) systems and their integration into space assets have added worrying dimensions to the issues relating to Outer Space", the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said, while obliquely indicating the anti-satellite test that brought India's sophistication in the realm of ballistic missile defence up a notch.
The state-funded Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on 27 March claimed that an indigenously developed ballistic missile defence (BMD) interceptor missile had successfully engaged an Indian target satellite in low earth orbit in "Hit to Kill" mode. The interceptor missile was a three-stage missile with two solid rocket boosters. India claimed that the test was aimed at defending its assets in outer space.