'Accidental Firing': India Says Object That Crossed Into Pakistani Airspace And Crashed Was A Missile

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has put out a statement saying the object that crossed into Pakistan airspace on 9 March and crashed in the country's Punjab province was an Indian missile.

The Defence Ministry has called it a case of "accidental firing" and said that it occurred during "routine maintinance" operations.

"On 9 March 2022, in the course of a routine maintenance, a technical malfunction led to the accidental firing of a missile," MoD has said.

"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 reads.

The MoD has said that the government had "taken a serious view" and ordered a "high-level Court of Enquiry".

The MoD's statement comes after the Pakistan Army's propaganda wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) claimed that it detected a high-flying projectile that came into its airspace allegedly from India.

“On March 9, at 6:43pm, a high speed flying object was picked up inside the Indian territory…From initial course, it deviated and entered Pakistan territory and fell in Pakistani territory, causing some damage to civilian installations but no loss of life was reported,” Pakistan Army spokesman Major General Babar Iftikhar told the media.

Major General Iftikhar said the object crashed in Mian Channu, a town in the Khanewal district of Pakistan's Punjab on Wednesday (9 March) night. He said the projectile launched from the surface and added that the Pakistan Air Force initiated tactical operations after detecting it.

"PAF continuously monitored the complete flying path of the object, from its point of origin near Sirsa in India to its point of impact, near Mian Channu," Major General Iftikhar noted, adding, "The projectile travelled 124 kilometres inside Pakistani territory in three minutes and 44 seconds".

“The flight path endangered civilians in both Pakistan and India. India must explain what caused this; this reflects poorly on Indian aviation,” he said, adding that this could have resulted in a major aviation disaster.

"Pakistan strongly protests this flagrant violation and cautions against the recurrence of any such incident in the future," he added.