‘Was missile handled by Indian army or rogue elements?’ Pakistan demands ‘joint probe’ into missile incident

Pakistan took notice of the clarification by the Indian Defence Ministry regretting the “accidental firing” of the Indian-origin missile into Pakistani territory and demanded a “joint probe to accurately establish the facts surrounding the incident”.

In a statement issued today (March 12), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the grave nature of the incident raised several fundamental questions regarding security protocols and technical safeguards against the “accidental or unauthorised launch of missiles in a nuclearised environment”.

“Such a serious matter cannot be addressed with the simplistic explanation proffered by the Indian authorities,” said the Foreign Office (FO) statement.

Pakistan said 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 actualise?
• 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?

“The whole incident indicates many loopholes and technical lapses of serious nature in Indian handling of strategic weapons,” said the statement, adding that the Indian decision to hold an internal court of inquiry is “not sufficient since the missile ended up in Pakistani territory”.

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

Pakistan’s National Security Adviser (NSA) Dr Moeed Yusuf tweeted yesterday that it has taken more than two days for India to accept that this was their missile launched ostensibly due to a technical malfunction during maintenance.

“This raises serious questions about India’s ability to handle such sensitive technology. This missile traveled close to the path of international and domestic commercial airlines and threatened the safety of civilians,” said Yusuf.

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