India says it accidentally fired missile into Pakistan
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India’s Border Security Forces (BSF) troops patrolling along the fence border with Pakistan near Jammu, February 26, 2019, at Ranbir Singh Pura.
Reuters| Reuters
India stated that Pakistan had fired an accidental missile this week after a “technical error” in routine maintenance. It gave its account of the events, following which Pakistan summoned India’s ambassador to protest.
Experts in military affairs have warned in the past of potential miscalculations or errors by their nuclear-armed neighbor. These neighbours have been involved in three wars and many smaller armed clashes. Most of these were over Kashmir.
Tensions have decreased in the last few months. However, the initial incident of this nature, may have raised concerns about safety.
The Indian Ministry of Defence released a three-paragraph statement stating that “On the 9th March 2022 during routine maintenance, there was a technical problem which led to an accidental firing of the missile.”
The missile hit an area in Pakistan, it was learned. It is regrettable that the missile landed in Pakistan, but it is a relief that no lives were lost.
Ministry said that the government “taken a serious look and had ordered a high level Court of Enquiry”.
Officials in Pakistan claimed that the missile had been unarmed, and it crashed close to the eastern capital Islamabad. It is located approximately 500km (310 miles), from the city of Mian Channu.
The foreign ministry of Pakistan summoned the charge d’affaires from India to Islamabad in protest at an unprovoked breach of India’s airspace. It claimed that it could have caused serious harm to civilian life.
Pakistan advised India “to be conscious of the unfortunate consequences of this negligence and to take effective measures in the future to avoid such violations.”
Ayesha Siddiqa is an expert in South Asian military affairs. She tweeted, “India-Pak should talk about risk mitigation.”
“Both states have remained confident about control of nuclear weapons but what if such accidents happen again & with more serious consequences?”
‘Mature handling’
Reuters spoke to a top Pakistani security agent under oath that the incident was alarming and could have escalated to a “critical untoward circumstance”.
He stated, “The admission that the missile was in use was not a surprise.” What does all this tell us about the safety of these weapons and their technical capabilities? “The international community must take a close look at these matters.”
The official said it was possibly a BrahMos missile – a nuclear-capable, land-attack cruise missile jointly developed by Russia and India.
The missile has a range of 300km (186 miles) to 500 km (310 mi), so it can hit Islamabad using a northern Indian launchpad.
Pakistani officials wondered if this meant India had missiles ready to launch and pointed at Pakistan. This was without the protection of any command and control system.
On Thursday, a Pakistani military spokesperson stated that an “high-speed flying object”, which originated from Sirsa in northern India had crashed into eastern Pakistan.
He stated that the object’s flight path had endangered several national and international passenger flights in Indian and Pakistani aviation, as well as property and human lives on ground.
According to a Pakistani official, the object had flown in Pakistani skies for 124km (77miles) at an altitude of 40,000 feet.
Happymon Jacob (a professor of international Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi) said both had dealt with the situation professionally.
On Twitter, he said that “It gives my great hope that 2 nuclear weapons states dealt with this missile incident in an mature manner.” New Delhi should pay for compensation for the Pak home that was burned.
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