Indian defence ministry has admitted its mistake that a missile had accidentally fired and landed into the territory of Pakistan.
“In the course of a routine maintenance, a technical malfunction led to the accidental firing of a missile” on Wednesday that landed in “an area of Pakistan”, India defence ministry in a statement said on Friday, adding that a high-level inquiry had been ordered.
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The ministry called it “deeply regrettable.
“In the course of a routine maintenance, a technical malfunction led to the accidental firing of a missile” on Wednesday, India’s defence ministry said.
It did not specify the type of missile, but said it landed “in an area of Pakistan”.
The incident was “deeply regrettable”, it said, adding that it was “a matter of relief that there has been no loss of life due to the accident”.
The statement came hours after Islamabad’s foreign ministry condemned what it called an “unprovoked violation of its airspace by an Indian origin ‘super-sonic flying object'”.
India’s charge d’affaires in Islamabad had been summoned to the foreign office for a “strong protest”, it added.
The “imprudent launch” had damaged property on the ground and put at risk civilian lives and aircraft in Pakistani airspace, it said, accusing India of “callousness towards regional peace and stability”.
on Thursday (March 10), Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Babar Iftikhar has said that the air space of Pakistan was violated by India at the location of Mian Channu. on 9th March 2022.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, .he said an Indian “supersonic missile” violated country’s air space, endangering civil flights before crashing 124 km from the international borders near Mian Chunnu, damaged civilian property, but no lives were lost.
“Pakistan strongly protested this flagrant violation and cautions against recurrence of any such incident in the future,” the DG ISPR said.
Major General Iftikhar said the incident occurred on March 9, when a high-speed flying object was detected inside the Indian territory by the PAF Air Defence Operation System. The object was picked up at 18:43 hours which after remaining airborne, suddenly maneuvered from its initial course and intruded into the Pakistani territory. He described it as “a supersonic flying object, most probably a missile, but it was certainly unarmed.”
Initial reports on Wednesday suggested that some small aircraft had crashed in the area.
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He said the Pakistan Air Force continuously monitored the complete flying path of the object, from its point of origin near Sirsa in India to its point of impact, near Mian Channu and “initiated requisite tactical actions.
He said that it is the responsibility of India to explain this incident and it had to answer to it.
