Pakistan demands joint probe into accidental India missile fire

Islamabad: Pakistan on Saturday demanded a joint probe into a missile India said it accidentally fired into its territory, rejecting New Delhi’s decision to hold an internal inquiry into the incident and calling on the international community to play a role.

“Such a serious matter cannot be addressed with the simplistic explanation proffered by the Indian authorities,” Pakistan’s foreign office said in a statement.

“Pakistan demands a joint probe to accurately establish the facts surrounding the incident,” it added.

India said on Friday it had accidentally fired the missile into Pakistan this week because of a “technical malfunction” during routine maintenance. The international community must play its “due role in promoting stability in a nuclearised environment”, the foreign office statement from Pakistan said.

Military experts have in the past warned of the risk of accidents or miscalculations by the neighbours.

Tensions have eased in recent months, and the incident, which may have been the first of its kind, immediately raised questions about safety mechanisms.

Pakistan demanded clarifications from India over its safety mechanism to prevent accidental missile launches, and whether it was appropriately handled by its armed forces.

On Thursday, Pakistan claimed a supersonic missile took off from Sirsa and landed within Pakistani territory. The missile was cruising at an altitude of 40,000 feet and endangered passenger flights in both Indian and Pakistani airspace, and also civilians and property on the ground, it said.

Major General Babar Iftikhar, Director General of the Pakistani Armed Forces Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said at 18.43 hours on March 9, “a high-speed flying object was picked up inside Indian flying territory by Air Defence Operations Centre of the Pakistani Air Force. From its initial course the object suddenly manoeuvred towards Pakistani territory and violated Pakistan’s airspace ultimately falling near Mia Channu.”

He was addressing a press conference on Thursday evening on the incident. He said that there were no human casualties. “When it fell it also damaged some civilian property. Thankfully no loss or injury to human life was caused.”