New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajanath Singh in Rajya Sabha today spoke on the accident happened during routine maintenance and inspection at around 7 pm. Stressing that the government attached “highest priority” to the safety and security of weapons systems, he assured the house that the missile system is “very reliable and safe”. The Indian government also informed the parliament that a formal high level inquiry was set up on March 9 regarding the incident of “inadvertent” release of a missile from India into Pakistan’s territory.
“It was later 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.
The Minister also asserted that the government has “taken serious note” of the incident and ordered a formal high-level inquiry. The inquiry would determine the exact cause of the accident.
To ensure precautionary measures for such incidents so that can be prevented in the future, Mr Singh said that a review of the Standard Operating Procedures for operations, maintenance and inspections is being conducted in the wake of this incident.
“We attach the highest priority to the safety and security of our weapon systems. If any shortcoming is found, the same would be immediately rectified. I can assure the House that the missile system is very reliable and safe,” he said.
Mr Singh added that the safety procedures and protocols are “of the highest order” and are reviewed from time to time. “Our Armed Forces are well-trained and disciplined & are well experienced in handling such systems,” he said.
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.
Regarding the incident, United States had said there is no indication that the recent firing of a missile from India which landed in Pakistan was anything other than accidental.
“We have no indication as you also heard from our Indian partners that this incident was anything other than an accident,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters at his daily news conference on Monday.
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