Pak NSA Questions India's Ability To Handle Sensitive Technologies After 'Inadvertent' Missile Launch
Pakistan's NSA Moeed Yusuf on Friday questioned India's ability to handle sensitive technologies and called for an investigation into its "inadvertent" launch of a missile that landed in Pakistan.
New Delhi: Pakistan's National Security Advisor Moeed Yusuf on Friday questioned India's ability to handle sensitive technologies after New Delhi said it accidentally fired a missile two days back that landed in Pakistan.
NSA called for an investigation into its "inadvertent" launch of a missile that landed in Pakistan.
ALSO READ | India Orders High-Level Probe Into Accidental Firing Of Missle At Area In Pak, Expresses Regret
India on Friday said it accidentally fired a missile two days back that landed in Pakistan and that the "deeply regrettable" incident was caused by a technical malfunction in the course of its routine maintenance.
In a series of tweets, Yusuf stated that the Indian government did not bother to inform Pakistan about the incident.
"This raises serious questions about India’s ability to handle such sensitive technology," he said.
It is also highly irresponsible of Indian authorities not to have informed Pakistan immediately that an inadvertent launch of a cruise missile had taken place.
— Moeed W. Yusuf (@YusufMoeed) March 11, 2022
He claimed that the missile had travelled close to the path of international and domestic airlines and threatened the safety of civilians.
He also criticised the Indian authorities for not informing Pakistan immediately that an "inadvertent launch of a cruise missile had taken place".
"In a nuclear environment, such callousness and ineptitude raise questions about the safety and security of Indian weapon systems," he said.
The Pakistani NSA also alluded to incidents of uranium theft in India that had been reported and its citizens "have even been arrested while smuggling uranium in the recent past".
"Given this incident (of March 9), and earlier ones, the world must consider whether India is able to ensure the safety and security of its nuclear and other high-end weapon systems," Yusuf wrote.
Yusuf also called for an investigation into the "real circumstances surrounding" the March 9 incident "to ascertain if this was an inadvertent launch or something more intentional" as "it is hard to believe anything this Indian government says." He said the missile could have caused massive damage.
It is hard to believe anything this Indian government says. Therefore, the real circumstances surrounding this incident must also be investigated to ascertain if this was an inadvertent launch or something more intentional.
— Moeed W. Yusuf (@YusufMoeed) March 11, 2022
The NSA's response to the incident was the latest to have come from Pakistan.
On Thursday night, Pakistan summoned India's Charge d'Affaires in Islamabad and conveyed its strong protest over the "unprovoked" violation of its airspace by the supersonic "projectile" of Indian origin.
The Indian diplomat who was summoned to the Foreign Office was told about the alleged violation of its airspace by an Indian-origin “super-sonic flying object” which entered into Pakistan from Suratgarh in India at 6:43 PM (local time) on March 9, the Foreign Office informed in a statement.
In New Delhi, India's defence ministry on Friday said that the government has taken a serious view of the incident and ordered a high-level Court of Enquiry into it.
Ties between India and Pakistan nose-dived after a terror attack on the Pathankot Air Force base in 2016 by terror groups based in the neighbouring country. Subsequent attacks, including one on an Indian Army camp in Uri, also deteriorated the relationship.
The relationship deteriorated further after India announced withdrawing the special powers of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcation of the state into two union territories in August 2019.
Pakistan objected to India's move to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019. Islamabad downgraded diplomatic ties and expelled the Indian High Commissioner in the capital. It also snapped all air and land links with India and suspended trade and railway services.
India has said that it desires normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan in an environment free of terror, hostility, and violence.
(With Agency Inputs)
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