India Issues Statement on Missile Fired into Pakistan

India has issued a statement on the missile it fired into Pakistan that landed near Mian Channu in Khanewal District causing damage to civilian properties. According to the details, India had a technical malfunction during a routine maintenance that accidentally fired the missile into Pakistan.

“On 9 March 2022, in the course of a routine maintenance, a technical malfunction led to the accidental firing of a missile,” the Indian government 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.”

The statement added that the Government of India has taken a serious note of the incident and ordered an inquiry into the matter. The development comes just a day after Director-General of Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR) Major General Babar Iftikhar revealed that an Indian projectile that had entered Pakistan and fell near Mian Channu in Khanewal District.

Pakistan had earlier condemned the unprovoked violation of its airspace by a “super-sonic flying object” of Indian origin. The Indian missile had landed near Mian Channu and caused damage to civilian properties, however, there were no causalities reported from the incident.

The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) had continuously monitored the flight path of the flying object from its point of origin near India’s Sirsa all the way into its point of impact near Mian Channu, said DG ISPR, adding that PAF had initiated appropriate tactical actions in accordance with the standard operation procedures (SOPs).

Major General Babar Iftikhar added that the flight path of the Indian missile had endangered many international and domestic passenger flights both in India and Pakistani airspace. “It shows their (India’s) disregard for aviation safety and reflects very poorly on their technological prowess and procedural efficiency.” said DG ISPR.

He added that the incident could have resulted in major aviation disaster as well as civilian casualties on the ground, where it fell near Mian Channu. “Pakistan strongly protests this flagrant violation and cautions against the recurrence of any such incident in the future,” he added.

He said that an inquiry was underway to determine the details of the flying object, which was most probably a missile, however, it was unarmed. “Whatever has caused this, we will wait for an explanation from the Indian side,” he added, saying that Pakistan Air Force (PAF) was fully prepared to handle such scenerios.

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