New Delhi: After India accepted that a “technical malfunction” led to a missile entering Pakistani territory, Pakistan on Saturday demanded a “joint probe”, asserting that an internal court of inquiry was not enough.A day earlier, the Indian ministry of defence admitted that a missile was “accidentally fired” due to a “technical malfunction” during “routine maintenance”. The Indian admittance came a day after the Pakistan army went public that a “super-sonic flying object” had entered its territory from India.India announced that the government had “taken a serious view and ordered a high-level Court of Enquiry”.In the first official response to the Indian admittance, Pakistan called for a joint investigation.“The whole incident indicates many loopholes and technical lapses of serious nature in Indian handling of strategic weapons. Indian decision to hold an internal court of inquiry is not sufficient since the missile ended up in Pakistani territory. Pakistan demands a joint probe to accurately establish the facts surrounding the incident,” said the statement from the Pakistan foreign office on Saturday afternoon.Also read: India Expresses ‘Deep Regret’ Over ‘Accidental Firing’ of Missile that Landed in PakistanIt claimed that due to the short distance and response time, any misinterpretation by the other side could have led to counter-measures in self-defence with grave consequences. “Pakistan, therefore, calls upon the international community to take serious notice of this incident of grave nature in a nuclearised environment and play its due role in promoting strategic stability in the region.”The Pakistani statement also listed seven “fundamental questions” that need to be answered by the Indian government.India must explain the measures and procedures in place to prevent accidental missile launches and the particular circumstances of this incident.India needs to clearly explain the type and specifications of the missile that fell in Pakistani territory.India also needs to explain the flight path/ trajectory of the accidentally launched missile and how it ultimately turned and entered into Pakistan?Was the missile equipped with self-destruct mechanism? Why did it fail to actualise?Are Indian missiles kept primed for launch even under routine maintenance?Why did India fail to immediately inform Pakistan about the accidental launch of the missile and waited to acknowledge it till after Pakistan announced the incident and sought clarification?Given the profound level of incompetence, India needs to explain if the missile was indeed handled by its armed forces or some rogue elements?There has been no response from the Indian side to the latest Pakistani demand.The Pakistani foreign office’s statement mirrored the tweets of National Security Advisor Moeed Yusuf who questioned India’s ability to handle sensitive technologies and called for an investigation.Yusuf posted in a series of tweets on Friday that the Indian government did not bother to inform Pakistan about the incident.“This raises serious questions about India’s ability to handle such sensitive technology,” he said.He said that the missile had travelled close to the path of international and domestic airlines and threatened the safety of civilians. He also called out the Indian authorities for not informing Pakistan immediately that an “inadvertent launch of a cruise missile had taken place”.“In a nuclear environment, such callousness and ineptitude raise questions about the safety and security of Indian weapon systems,” he said.Yusuf also alluded to multiple incidents of uranium theft in India that had been reported and its citizens “have even been arrested while smuggling uranium in the recent past”.He regretted that Pakistan’s repeated calls urging the world to take notice of “India’s irresponsible behaviour” had been ignored and New Delhi continued to pose a threat to regional stability.“Given this incident (of March 9), and earlier ones, the world must consider whether India is able to ensure the safety and security of its nuclear and other high-end weapon systems,” the Pakistani NSA said.“The world must remove its blinders about the Indian state’s behaviour within its country, its diplomatic direction, and its disregard for the need for peace and stability in its neighbourhood. The world must treat this incident with the urgency, sensitivity and (the) alarm it deserves.”Yusuf also called for an investigation into the “real circumstances surrounding” the March 9 incident “to ascertain if this was an inadvertent launch or something more intentional” as “it is hard to believe anything this Indian government says”. He said the missile could have caused massive damage.(With agency inputs)
