Pakistan lodges protest with India over 'unprovoked violation of its airspace'

Summoning Indian Charge d’Affaires (Cd’A) on Friday, Pakistan lodged a strong protest over the unprovoked violation of its airspace by an Indian origin super-sonic flying object, calling for a thorough and transparent investigation.

In a statement issued today, Foreign Office (FO) said that the Indian diplomat was conveyed that the imprudent launch of the flying object not only caused damage to civilian property but also put at risk human lives on the ground.

"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," FO said.

India has to explain Mian Channu incident: DG ISPR

The statement said that the Indian diplomat was further told to convey to New Delhi Pakistan’s strong condemnation of "this blatant violation of Pakistani airspace in contravention of the established international norms and Aviation safety protocols".

Such irresponsible incidents were also reflective of India’s disregard for Air safety and callousness towards regional peace and stability, the statement added.

"Pakistan calls for a thorough and transparent investigation of the incident, the outcome of which must be shared with Pakistan.

"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."

On March 9, a projectile crashed near Mian Chunnu city and caused damage to civilian property.

Following this, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director-General Maj General Babar Iftikhar said that the high-speed flying object that crashed in Mian Channu was a supersonic missile that originated from India.

His remarks came during a press conference on Thursday, where he added that India has to explain the incident. The DG ISPR said that the Pakistan Army was also conducting a detailed inquiry into this matter.

“The flight path endangered civilians in both India and Pakistan. India must explain what caused this; this reflects poorly on Indian aviation,” he said, adding that this could have resulted in a major aviation disaster.

Pakistan strongly protests the “flagrant violation”, he said, adding that there was no sensitive installation in Mian Channu where the projectile fell.”

When asked for more details about the object, he said “we are not claiming anything right now".

"As a responsible nation, we will wait for India to respond. We have given details of whatever we know right now. But it is for the Indians to explain what happened in Mian Channu.”