Contrary to reports in the recent past, which have speculated that the Agni test had repeatedly been deferred since January under ``US pressure,'' the fact is that Washington had dropped its objections to New Delhi's decision to undertake missile tests as early as July last year.

The location of this momentous compromise was Frankfurt, during the second round of the nuclear-strategic dialogue between Jaswant Singh, then the PM's special envoy, and US deputy secretary of state Strobe Talbott.

Both teams, which met in a secluded location in the German city, agreed to back down a little bit from their original die-hard positions : while the US side agreed India would carry on working on its missile programme, New Delhi said all future testing would be done in a ``far more transparent manner.''

Over the lasteleven months since India went nuclear, external affairs and defence sources have insisted that missile testing was only a ``logical culmination'' of the Pokharan-II tests. ``The objective is to forge a credible, minimum nuclear deterrent and that is what our negotiations with Western US, UK express just regretĪcountries has been about,'' government sources said.

They pointed out that New Delhi was not about to ``repeat the mistake of 1974,'' a euphemism for the backtracking Indira Gandhi did in response then to heavy international pressure.

Accordingly, along with the international notifications and warnings issued to sea-faring vehicles, the government, earlier this week, informed its Western interlocutors and Pakistan that it was going ahead with the Agni-II test.

Interestingly, only four of the Permanent-Five countries--Russia, the US, Great Britain and France--with whom India has been conducting the ``strategic talks'' were told of the decision. China, with whom relations are only now beginning toget back on keel after last year's nuclear tests, was not told.

Pakistan, government sources said, was told as per the memorandum of understanding signed between the two governments during Prime Minister's trip to Lahore in February, which says that both nations will give advance notifications of any missile tests.

But foreign minister Sartaj Aziz told reporters in Islamabad that ``most probably we would have to give a befitting response.''

The lukewarm reaction of the Western nations, on the other hand, is of a piece with progress on the dialogue front. The US and Britain have expressed ``regret'', a mild form of diplomatic rebuke. Russia has not reacted formally because it is on holiday.

The US embassy in a statement here said, ``We believe concrete restraints by India would create a more positive atmosphere for improving relations among the various countries concerned and for addressing international non-proliferation issues...The test appears to be out of step with positive developments in thepolitical sphere including the recent summit in Lahore and resumption of Sino-Indian dialogue.''

According to Britain, ``We continue to believe that restraint in developing missiles and nuclear weapons is in India's long-term interest.''