The military on Thursday said that an unidentified high-altitude supersonic object originating in India had crashed in Pakistani territory, in an incident endangering civilian passenger flights, and New Delhi should provide an explanation.
“On 9 March a high-speed flying object was picked up inside Indian territory by air defence operations centre of the Pakistan air force,” Director-General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Babar said in a press conference.
He said that the military was not sure of the nature of the object, which crashed near Punjab’s Mian Channu and originated from the Indian city of Sirsa, in India’s western Haryana state.
“The flight path of this object endangered many national and international passenger flights both in Indian and Pakistani airspace as well as human life and property of ground,” he said.
He said that the object destroyed the wall of a building but no casualties on the Pakistani side was reported, condemning the Indian side for its careless approach that had endangered lives on both sides of the border.
“Whatever caused this to happen, it is for the Indian to explain… it reflects very poorly on their part and could have resulted in a disaster,” he added.
He said that the object destroyed the wall of a building but no casualties on the Pakistani side was reported, condemning the Indian side for its careless approach that had endangered lives on both sides of the border.
“Whatever caused this to happen, it is for the Indian to explain… it reflects very poorly on their part and could have resulted in a disaster,” he added.
Hinting that the incident was a possible error on the part of the Indians and not a deliberate action, he said that such tests and trials are routine practice but the explanation needed to be given by the neighbouring country. “It raises questions on the human resource working [on the Indian side] on such matters… it also raises the question on the technology being used [by India].”
Maj Gen Babar said that the military would not jump to conclusions until they got an explanation from India, but said that Pakistan strongly protests against this “flagrant violation” of its airspace.
Air Vice Marshall Tariq Zia, on the occasion, explained that the object was being analysed forensically and initial studies suggested it was a surface-to-surface supersonic missile, but was unarmed.
He said that it travelled at an altitude of 40,000 feet, at Mach 3, and flew 124km in Pakistani airspace before crashing.
There was no immediate response from India’s Ministry of External Affairs to a Reuters‘ query on the matter sent outside working hours.