On Friday, March 11, India said it unintentionally launched a missile into Pakistan this week due to a “technical malfunction” while carrying out routine maintenance.
The Indian defense ministry said in a statement, “On 9 March 2022, in the course of a routine maintenance, a technical malfunction led to the accidental firing of a missile.
“It is learned 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 stated that the government had “taken a serious view and ordered a high-level Court of Enquiry” into the event.
Pakistan’s foreign office announced earlier on Friday that it had summoned India’s charge d’affaires in Islamabad to submit a complaint on what it described as an unjustified breach of its airspace.
Pakistan also demanded a probe into the event, which it claimed put passenger planes and civilian lives in jeopardy.
Pakistan cautioned India “to be mindful of the unpleasant consequences of such negligence and take effective measures to avoid the recurrence of such violations in future”.
Major-General Babar Iftikhar, a spokesperson for Pakistan’s military, said in a late-night news conference on Thursday that a “high-speed flying object” landed near Mian Channu in the country’s east, and that it was released from the northern Indian city of Sirsa, in Haryana state close to New Delhi.
He said, “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 of ground.”
Iftikhar also demanded that India share the results of its inquiry into the event during a press conference on Thursday.
According to a Pakistani air force officer, the object flew 77 miles through Pakistani territory before landing at an altitude of 40,000 feet at a speed of Mach 3.
