slamabad has now moved the United Nations demanding a joint probe with New Delhi into India’s accidental firing of a missile that landed in Pakistan.
China also subtly backed its “iron brother” Pakistan’s demand for a joint probe with India. The United States, however, said that it had no reason to believe that the March 9 launch of the missile from India to Pakistan was “anything other than an accident”.
Though New Delhi already ordered a “high-level Court of Inquiry” into the accident, Islamabad pointed out that India’s internal probe would not be “sufficient” as the missile had fallen in the territory of Pakistan.
Such a serious matter could not be addressed with the simplistic explanation proffered by the authorities in India, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, wrote to Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, the United Arab Emirate’s envoy to the United Nations and the president of its Security Council for the month of March.
“Pakistan strongly condemns this blatant violation of its airspace (by India) in contravention of international aviation safety protocols,” Qureshi wrote to Nusseibeh.
“Such irresponsible incidents are also reflective of India’s disregard for air safety and callous approach towards regional peace and
stability.”
“This missile incident is consistent with India’s irresponsible conduct and deserves to be addressed by the international community and especially the Security Council, with the sense of alarm and urgency which it deserves,” Pakistan Foreign Minister wrote in the letters to the UNSC President and the UN Secretary General António Guterres.
Qureshi stated that the missile fired from India had not only caused damage to civilian property, but had also put at risk human lives on the ground in Pakistan.
He added that it could have resulted in a massive accident causing civilian casualties.
“Given the short distances and response times in Pakistan-India theatre, any misinterpretation by either side of each other’s military actions could lead to responses with grave consequences for the region and indeed for the whole world, especially in a nuclearised environment,” he wrote to to Qureshi and Nusseibeh.
China called on Pakistan and India to hold dialogue and communication as soon as possible, and look thoroughly into the incident, step up information sharing.
Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Chinese Government, said in Beijing that New Delhi and Islamabad should promptly establish a reporting mechanism so that such incidents could not happen again and misunderstanding and misjudgement could be avoided.
“Pakistan and India are both important countries in South Asia, bearing responsibilities for maintaining regional security and stability,” said Zhao.
Ned Price, the spokesperson of the US State Department, said that President Joe Biden’s administration in Washington D.C. had no indication that the incident was anything other than an accident.
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