ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has called upon the international community to take serious notice of Indian missile incident and play its due role in promoting strategic stability in the region.

 

In a statement on Saturday, Foreign Office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmad said the whole incident indicates many loopholes and technical lapses of serious nature in Indian handling of strategic weapons. He said Indian decision to hold an internal court of inquiry is not sufficient since the missile ended up in Pakistani territory.

 

The spokesperson said Pakistan demands a joint probe to accurately establish the facts surrounding the incident. In a media briefing on March 10, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar had said that on March 9, at 6:43pm, a high-speed flying object was picked up inside the Indian territory by Air Defence Operations Centre of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF).

 

The object suddenly manoeuvred towards Pakistani territory from its initial course and violated Pakistan’s air space, ultimately falling near Mian Channu at 6:50pm, the Director General ISPR had said. “It was a supersonic flying object, most probably a missile, but it was certainly unarmed,” Maj Gen Babar Iftikhra had added and called for an explanation from Delhi.

 

On Friday, the Indian defence ministry regretted that a missile “accidentally” entered Pakistan and fell in Khanewal district’s Mian Channu area on Wednesday, attributing the incident to a “technical malfunction”.