Our missile system highly safe: Defence minister Rajnath Singh

Pak rejects response, seeks joint probe

Asserting that India's missile system is very reliable and the safety procedures are of the highest order, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday described the accidental missile release as “regrettable” and said a review of standard operations and maintenance was being conducted and any shortcoming if found, will be immediately rectified.

Making a statement in Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha on the inadvertent release of a missile during an inspection on March 9, Singh said the government had taken serious note of the incident, and a formal high-level inquiry has been ordered which will determine the exact cause of the incident. “During routine maintenance and inspection, a missile was accidentally released around 7 pm. It was learnt that the missile had landed inside the territory of Pakistan. While this incident is regretted, we are relieved that nobody was hurt due to the accident,” the minister said. He said armed forces are well-tra­ined and are well experienced in handling such systems.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mah­mood Qureshi on Tuesday rejected as “incomplete and insufficient” the response by India's defence minister about the “accidental firing" of a missile, and once again demanded a joint probe into the incident.

The accidental missile had prompted Pakistan to prepare a retaliatory strike, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. Pakistan had prepared to launch a similar missile to strike India but held back because an initial assessment indicated something was amiss, people familiar with the matter.