Pakistan calls India's action over Brahmos missile incident 'inadequate'

Islamabad: Pakistan has rejected India's action over the March 9 accidental firing of a supersonic Brahmos missile that landed in its territory as "totally unsatisfactory, deficient and inadequate" and reiterated its demand for a joint probe into the incident.

On Tuesday, India's Ministry of Defence said the services of three officers of the Indian Air Force were terminated after a Court of Inquiry (CoI) found that deviation from the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) by them led to the accidental firing of the Brahmos missile that landed in Pakistan's Punjab province, prompting Islamabad to lodge a strong protest over it.

The Foreign Office in a late night statement on Wednesday said Pakistan has seen India's announcement of the findings of an internal CoI regarding the "incident of firing of a rogue supersonic missile" into its territory and the decision to terminate the services of three IAF officers reportedly found responsible for the reckless incident. "Pakistan categorically rejects India's purported closure of the highly irresponsible incident and reiterates its demand for a joint probe," it said.

"As expected, the measures taken by India in the aftermath of the incident and the subsequent findings and punishments handed by the so-called internal Court of Inquiry are totally unsatisfactory, deficient and inadequate," the statement said.

It alleged that India has not only failed to respond to Pakistan's demand for a joint inquiry but has also evaded the questions raised by it regarding the command and control system in place in India, the safety and security protocols and the "reason for India's delayed admission of the missile launch".

It said systemic loopholes and technical lapses of serious nature in handling of strategic weapons "cannot be covered up beneath the veneer of individual human error".