India on Friday said it accidentally fired a missile two days ago that landed in Pakistan and that the “deeply regrettable” incident was caused by a technical malfunction in the course of its routine maintenance.
India’s defence minister said, “During routine maintenance and inspection, a missile was accidentally released at around 7 pm. It was later learnt that the missile had landed inside Pakistan’s territory. While this incident is regretted, we are relieved that nobody was hurt due to the accident.”
The United States said that there is no indication that the firing of a missile that landed in Pakistan was intentional. State Department spokesperson Ned Prince told reporters at his daily news conference on Monday that “We have no indication, as you also heard from our Indian partners that this incident was anything other than an accident.”
On Thursday night, Pakistan summoned India’s Charge d’Affaires to Islamabad to express its vehement protest over the supersonic “projectile” of Indian origin’s “unprovoked” violation of Pakistan’s airspace.
A thorough joint probe into the incident has also been demanded by the Pakistani foreign office.
“On March 9, 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 defence ministry said in a statement in New Delhi on Friday.
“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 said.
Published By: Ankit Singh
Edited By: Khushi Thakur
