New Delhi: India said on Friday that due to a technical glitch it accidentally fired a missile that landed in Pakistan and said that it "deeply regretted" the incident. India's defence ministry said that the accident occurred on Wednesday evening due to a technical malfunction during a routine maintenance check. India regretted the accident and said that there has been no loss of lives. A high-level inquiry has been ordered.
"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 Inquiry," India's 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.
Pakistan military had, in a press conference on Thursday night, said that an unarmed Indian supersonic missile intruded 124 kilometres into Pakistani territory in three minutes and 44 seconds and hit a private property near Mian Channu.
Pakistan on Friday summoned India’s Charge d’Affaires and conveyed its strong protest over violation of its airspace by an Indian-origin “super-sonic flying object”. 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”. It sought a thorough and transparent investigation into the incident which, it said, could have resulted in a serious aviation accident.
Both India and Pakistan are nuclear armed nations.
Pakistan said that the missile originated near Sirsa in Haryana and was an unarmed surface-to-surface supersonic missile which travelled at a speed of Mach 3.0. During the course of the missile’s flight, Pakistan claimed that it passed close to airliners from Qatar, Saudi Arabia and India in Indian airspace and the flight courses of two international and a domestic flight in Pakistani airspace.
The statement from India didn't give any information regarding the missile. But going by the details given by the Pakistan military, it comes close to India's BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. However, there is no official confirmation.
Pakistan military said that the missile was not shot down and fell by itself.
