However, the Indian Ministry of Defence claims that it was an unintentional firing caused by a technical issue, which is regretful.

While emphasizing that an inquiry will be conducted on the matter, the Indian government expressed relief that no casualties were reported.

“On March 9, 2022, during routine maintenance, a technical malfunction led to the accidental missile firing,” a Twitter post by the Ministry of Defence in India reads.

‘The Government of India has taken a serious view and ordered court of inquiry. The missile landed in the Pakistan area.

“Incident is regrettable and matter of relief that there’s been no loss of life.”

Reacting to the development, the national security adviser of Pakistan, Moeed Yusuf said the missile threatened the safety of civilians and had to be shut down by its military.

He added that it remains questionable why India would have to wait for about two days before acknowledging that it fired the missile into another country’s territory.

Yusuf added that the incident raises questions about the ability of India to manage such sensitive weapons.

“On March 9th, a supersonic projectile from India traveling at 40,000 feet covered over 250 km & landed inside Pakistani territory,” he wrote on Twitter.

“It has taken more than 2 days for India to accept that this was their missile launched ostensibly due to a technical malfunction during maintenance.

“This raises serious questions about India’s ability to handle such sensitive technology. This missile traveled close to the path of international and domestic commercial airlines and threatened the safety of civilians,” Yusuf added.

He accused India of callousness for waiting that long before officially informing Pakistan about the missile incident.

“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.

“In a nuclear environment, such callousness & ineptitude raises questions about the safety & security of Indian weapon systems. Already, there have been multiple incidents of uranium theft in India and its citizens have even been arrested while smuggling uranium in the recent past.”