India apologized on Friday for what it said was an accidental firing of a missile into Pakistan‘s airspace.
The Indian Defense Ministry said in a statement that “a technical malfunction” during “routine maintenance” had been the cause of the missile to fire before eventually landing in a part of Pakistan. The ministry said that it was thankful that nobody had been injured or killed as a result.
“While the incident is deeply regrettable, it is also a matter of relief that there has been no loss of life due to the incident,” the Defense Ministry said in the statement.
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The Indian government said it was taking a “serious view” regarding this incident and ordered “a high-level Court of Enquiry,” according to the statement.
Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Pakistan, said in a Facebook post on Thursday evening that Pakistan had recorded an “unprovoked violation of its airspace by a ‘super-sonic flying object'” from India.
“The Charge d’Affaires (Cd’A) of the Republic of India in Islamabad was summoned to the Foreign Office today and conveyed Pakistan’s strong protest over the unprovoked violation of its airspace,” Ahmad wrote.
Ahmad said that the Indian government official was informed that the “imprudent launch of the flying object” not only put people’s lives in jeopardy but led to property damages.
“Besides, the flight path of the flying object endangered several domestic/international flights within Pakistani airspace and could have resulted in a serious aviation accident as well as civilian casualties,” he continued.
Pakistan condemned India’s apparent “disregard for Air safety” and called for an investigation, the results of which “must be shared” with the Pakistani government, according to Ahmad’s statement. “Moreover, the Government of India is cautioned to be mindful of the unpleasant consequences of such negligence and take effective measures to avoid the recurrence off such violations in future.”
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The neighboring countries, which both have nuclear weapons, have often clashed, but tensions are especially high surrounding the area of Kashmir, which is nestled in the Himalayas, according to the Washington Post.
The two countries gained independence from Britain in 1947, with India remaining largely Hindu-based and Pakistan retaining a majority-Muslim population.
