Indian "supersonic Missile" Violates Pakistan Air Space; Pakistan Protests And Cautions India Against Recurrence: DG ISPR

RAWALPINDI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th Mar, 2022 ) ::Pakistan on Thursday said an Indian "supersonic missile" violated country's air space, endangering civil flights before crashing 124 km from the international borders near Mian Chunnu, damaged civilian property, but no lives were lost.

"Pakistan strongly protested s this flagrant violation and cautions against recurrence of any such incident in the future," DG Inter-Services Public Relations Major General Babar Iftikhar told a press conference.

The DG ISPR DG said the incident occurred on March 9, when a high-speed flying object was detected inside the Indian territory by the PAF Air Defence Operation System. The object was picked up at 18:43 hours which after remaining airborne, suddenly manoeuvred from its initial course and intruded into the Pakistani territory. He described it as "a supersonic flying object, most probably a missile, but it was certainly unarmed." Initial reports Wednesday suggested that some small aircraft had crashed in the area.

He said the Pakistan Air Force continuously monitored the complete flying path of the object, from its point of origin near Sirsa in India to its point of impact, near Mian Channu and "initiated requisite tactical actions." The ISPR DG said the high-speed object violated Pakistani airspace at 18:50 hours and and after falling on ground it also damaged some civilian property.

He added that the PAF completely monitored the flight path of the flying position near Sirsa, India till the point of impact near Mian Chunnu.

The PAF initiated requisite tactical actions in accordance with the SOPs, he noted.

Major General Babar underlined that the flight path of the intruding projectile object endangered the safety of international and domestic passenger flights both in the Indian and Pakistani airspace as well as human lives and property on ground.

He mentioned that the incident occurred demanded the Indian side to respond on this event whereas it exposed their disregard for aviation safety and very poorly reflected on their technological prowess and procedural efficiency.

He highlighted that the incident could have resulted into a major aviation disaster as well as civilian casualties on ground.

"Pakistan strongly protests this flagrant violation and cautions against any recurrence of such incident in future," he said.

He called upon Air Vice Marshal (AVM) Tariq Zia to explain the technical details of the incident.

AVM Tariq Zia told that the PAF System detected the object, during a routine surveillance. near Sirsa some 104 kilometers inside Indian Territory which was the closest point near the international border.

He added that the object was detected at a high altitude of 40,000feet and speed of Mac 2.5-3.

The initial course of this object was towards South West region and initially appeared to be heading towards Mahajan Fighting Range, Surat Ghar, he said, adding, "After traveling some 70-80 kilometers distance it took right track change and headed towards Northwest side of Pakistan." AVM Zia added that the PAF Air Defence System had a solid and continuous tracking of this projectile from its first pick up till it faded out.

He mentioned the supersonic object remained airborne for 6 minutes and 46 seconds whereas it remained for 3 minutes and 24 seconds in Pakistani territory.

He informed that the debris of the object was collected and continuous forensics were underway, adding, " It can be deduced that it was a supersonic missile launched from ground-- a surface to surface missile and further details are yet to come." Responding to media queries, the ISPR DG responded that India had to explain the causes of this incident and being a responsible nation Pakistan would not commit any escalation.

He told the media men that detailed inquiry of the incident was under process and added that it was certainly an unarmed supersonic flying object.

Major General Babar added that the object was picked up by the PAF system right from 100kms inside and soon it entered into Pakistan's side all mechanism of the Armed Forces were in place.

He confirmed that no DGMO level contact was made by the Indian side whereas all details of the incident were share with the Foreign Office and it would seek response from Indian authorities.

"We were absolutely monitoring the flight positions and no sensitive installation was noticed in its course area", he added.

Responding another query on surge in terrorist activities in Balochistan, the ISPR DG said during past few weeks the Security Forces killed some 80 terrorists in various operations. He added that a slight uptick was recorded in hostile activities mainly due to vacuum in Afghanistan after withdrawal of the US Forces which provided space to inimical forces who would be controlled soon.

He mentioned there was an understanding between India and Pakistan to inform each other prior to the launch of ballistic missiles whereas in case of supersonic there was no such understanding.

He reiterated that the Armed Forces of Pakistan were awake and alive to take all inimical threats down and nothing would go missed.

The ISPR DG said the Armed Forces were updating it's defence inventory with the developing modern trends to reconcile it's capabilities with latest advacements.