Pakistan rejects India's statement on mistaken missile launch
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Tuesday that Islamabad rejects the Indian Defense Minister's statement that a missile was launched by mistake.
Qureshi added to reporters that the Indian statement was "incomplete," noting that he had sent a written letter to the Security Council regarding this incident, and asked the international community to discuss it.
On Tuesday, the Indian Defense Minister announced a new decision to "review the procedures for operating, maintaining and checking weapons systems", after a missile was accidentally launched at Pakistan last week.
"We give top priority to the safety and security of our weapons systems. If we discover any malfunction it will be corrected immediately," Minister Raginat Singh told parliament.
He added that India mistakenly fired a missile that landed in Pakistan around 7 pm last Wednesday, during routine maintenance and inspection work.
"While we regret this incident, we are relieved that no one was hurt," he said.
The Indian army "accidentally" fired a missile towards Pakistan, the Indian Defense Ministry announced on Friday, expressing "deep regret".
"As part of routine maintenance, a technical malfunction led to the accidental launch of a missile," it said in a statement, confirming an investigation had been opened.
She did not specify the type of missile, but said it fell in an "area of Pakistan".
The statement came hours after the Pakistani Foreign Ministry condemned what it described as an "unjustified violation of its airspace by (a supersonic flying object) originating from India."
Hindu-majority India and Muslim Pakistan have fought three wars since gaining independence from British colonialism in 1947, two of them over the disputed region of Kashmir.
And they share a border where large military reinforcements are deployed on both sides, and in some periods the tension escalated to the point of raising fears of the use of atomic weapons.
Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news