Pakistan demolished its giant missile statue in Islamabad erected after the country's nuclear tests in 1998.

The move comes ahead of next month's South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation summit to be attended by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee among others.

The statue is a massive replica of the Ghouri missile at the picturesque F-10 intersection in the capital.

The demolition was part of change of capital city's beautification plan, Pakistan's Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat told reporters.

But officials of Capital Development Authority were more forthright in their comments to the media.

"The missile statue was not giving any impressive impression of Pakistan, therefore it would be replaced by a peace statue," one of the official said.

Considering the emotions it could evoke, officials brought down the statue late last night.

CDA officials said missile models in other parts of the city too would be removed and replaced with more aesthetic statues.