Rajnath Singh, the
Indian defence minister, addressed Parliament Tuesday on the accidental firing
of a missile into Pakistan earlier this month. “I’d like to tell this House
about an incident that occurred on 9th March 2022. It’s related to an accidental missile release during the
inspection. During routine maintenance and inspection of the missile unit,
around 7 pm, one missile got accidentally released,” Singh said in the Rajya
Sabha.

“The exact cause of the incident can be
known only through a probe. I would also like to say that in the context of
this incident, standard operating procedures of operations, maintenance and
inspections are also being reviewed,” he added.

An Indian missile landed nearly 124
kilometres into Pakistan territory on March 9. Pakistan broke the news the next
day saying an unarmed Indian missile had landed on their territory.
Subsequently, the Indian government too acknowledged that a technical
malfunction led to the “accidental firing of a missile.” Pakistan has sought a
joint probe into the incident.

“Indian decision to hold an internal
court of inquiry is not sufficient since the missile ended up in Pakistani
territory. Pakistan demands a joint probe to accurately establish the fact
surrounding the incident,” a statement issued by Pakistan’s foreign office
read.

The United States, responding to the
incident which could rouse volatilities in an already tense region, said there
was no indication that the firing of the missile was anything more than an
accident. “We have no indication as you also heard from our Indian partners
that this incident was anything other than an accident,” the US state
department spokesperson Ned Price said. Price added that the Indian Ministry of
Defence will explain what precisely happened.

Meanwhile, China has called upon both
India and Pakistan to engage in dialogue and “look thoroughly into the incident.”
“China has noted relevant information. China calls on countries to hold
dialogue and communication as soon as possible, and look thoroughly into the
incident, step up information sharing and promptly establish a reporting
mechanism so that such incidents will never happen again, and misunderstanding
and misjudgement can be avoided,” a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said.