Indian Missile Lands in Pakistan Caused by “Technical Malfunction”
NEW DELHI, March 11: India has expressed regrets to Pakistan at the accidental misfiring of a missile from the Indian side which landed in Pakistan causing some damages to some houses but no human casualty.
The Defence Ministry blamed the incident on a “technical malfunction” that was “deeply regrettable.” It said, “On 9 March 2022, in the course of routine maintenance, a technical malfunction led to the accidental firing of a missile. The Government of India has taken a serious view and ordered a high-level Court of Enquiry,” the 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,” it added.
According to Pakistan, the missile flew more than 100 km inside their airspace, at an altitude of 40,000 feet and at three times the speed of sound, before it landed. There was no warhead on the missile so it did not detonate. But the country’s foreign office said it had summoned India’s charge d’affaires in Islamabad to protest what it called an unprovoked violation of its airspace. Pakistan called for an investigation into the incident, which it said 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.” Pakistani military spokesperson Major-General Babar Iftikhar said a “high-speed flying object” crashed near its eastern city of Mian Channu and that originated from the northern Indian city of Sirsa, in Haryana state near New Delhi.” The incident has left military experts puzzled since the firing of a missile system involves a preparation process, the identification of a target and toggling of multiple switches.
(Manas Dasgupta)
