Pakistan demands joint probe with India over 'accidental missile fire'

Pakistan on Saturday demanded a “joint probe” to accurately establish facts surrounding the accidental firing of an Indian missile into its territory, saying the grave nature of the incident raised several fundamental questions regarding security protocols and technical safeguards against the unauthorised launch of missiles in a nuclearised environment.

“Indian decision to hold an internal court of inquiry is not sufficient since the missile ended up in Pakistani territory. Pakistan demands a joint probe to accurately establish the facts surrounding the incident,” the Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement.

The statement noted that the entire incident indicated many loopholes and technical lapses of serious nature in India’s handling of strategic weapons.

India says it ‘accidentally’ fired missile into Pakistan due to ‘technical malfunction’

“Pakistan, therefore, calls upon the international community to take serious notice of this incident of grave nature in a nuclearised environment and play its due role in promoting strategic stability in the region,” the statement added.

It further said that Pakistan had taken note of the press statement by the Indian Press Information Bureau’s Defence Wing regretting the “accidental firing” of the Indian origin missile into Pakistani territory on 9 March 2022 due to “technical malfunction” and the decision to hold an internal Court of Inquiry.

“Given the short distances and response times, any misinterpretation by the other side could lead to countermeasures in self-defence with grave consequences,” it said.

Pakistan lodges protest with India over ‘unprovoked violation of its airspace’

The FO said that such a serious matter cannot be addressed with the simplistic explanation.

“Some of the questions that need to be answered include:

• India must explain the measures and procedures in place to prevent accidental missile launches and the particular circumstances of this incident.

• India needs to clearly explain the type and specifications of the missile that fell in Pakistani territory.

• India also needs to explain the flight path/ trajectory of the accidentally launched missile and how it ultimately turned and entered Pakistan?

• Was the missile equipped with self-destruct mechanism? Why did it fail to actualize?

• Are Indian missiles kept primed for launch even under routine maintenance?

• Why did India fail to immediately inform Pakistan about the accidental launch of the missile and waited to acknowledge it till after Pakistan announced the incident and sought clarification?

• Given the profound level of incompetence, India needs to explain if the missile was indeed handled by its armed forces or some rogue elements?“

India has to explain Mian Channu incident: DG ISPR

India had said on Friday it accidentally fired a missile into Pakistan this week because of a “technical malfunction” during routine maintenance, giving its version of events after Pakistan summoned India’s envoy to protest.

“On 9 March 2022, in the course of a routine maintenance, a technical malfunction led to the accidental firing of a missile,” the Indian Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

“It is learnt that the missile landed in an area of Pakistan. While the incident is deeply regrettable, it is also a matter of relief that there has been no loss of life due to the accident.”

The ministry said the government had “taken a serious view and ordered a high-level Court of Enquiry”.

Earlier, Pakistan’s foreign office had also summoned India’s charge d’affaires in Islamabad to lodge a protest over what it called an unprovoked violation of its airspace, saying the incident could have endangered passenger flights and civilian lives.

Pakistan warned India “to be mindful of the unpleasant consequences of such negligence and take effective measures to avoid the recurrence of such violations in future”.

Meanwhile, Director-General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Babar Iftikhar had also revealed on Thursday evening that a “high-speed flying object” originating from the northern Indian city of Sirsa had crashed in eastern Pakistan, near Mian Channu.

“The flight path of this object endangered many national and international passenger flights both in Indian and Pakistani airspace as well as human life and property on the ground,” he said.

A Pakistan air force official said the object, flying at 40,000 feet and three times the speed of sound, had flown 124 km (77 miles) in Pakistani airspace.