ISLAMABAD: Foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Tuesday that Pakistan rejects the statement by India’s defence minister Rajnath Singh on the accidental missile launch.
He told journalists the Indian statement was “incomplete” and said he had written to the UN Security Council on the matter and asked the international community to take the matter up.
India is reviewing its standard operating procedures for weapons systems and will immediately fix any shortcomings after accidentally launching a missile into Pakistan last week, its defence minister said on Tuesday.
The missile, released around 7PM last Wednesday during routine maintenance and inspection, landed in Pakistan without causing any casualties, India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told parliament. Pakistan said it was not satisfied and reiterated a demand for a joint investigation into the incident by the nuclear-armed arch rivals.
“We attach the highest priority to the safety and security of our weapon systems,” Singh said in the first public statement by an Indian official on the incident first reported by Pakistan’s military. “I would also like to state that a review of the standard operating procedures for operations, maintenance and inspections is being conducted,” Singh added.
Pakistan has demanded New Delhi give details about the safety mechanisms in place to prevent accidental missile launches and asked the international community to help maintain regional stability. read more
China urged the two countries to set up a reporting mechanism to avoid such incidents and share information, said Zhao Lijian, a spokesman at its foreign ministry. “Pakistan and India are both important countries in South Asia, bearing responsibilities for maintaining regional security and stability,” he told reporters.
While Pakistan appreciated China’s statement, Qureshi said that the US State Department spokesperson had “skirted the issue” a day earlier and had not taken a position on the matter, which he stressed could have lead to war. He added he had written to the UN Security Council too, but said the international community was not taking the matter seriously enough.
Delivering short statements in both houses of India’s parliament, Singh said the safety procedures and protocols for the country’s missile systems were of the highest standard and reviewed periodically. “I can assure the House that the missile system is very reliable and safe,” he said, without saying which missile had been accidentally launched.
