Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today assured the nation that the Indian missile system was very reliable and safe.

“Moreover, our safety procedures and protocols are of the highest order and are reviewed from time to time. Our armed forces are well-trained and disciplined and are well experienced in handling such systems,” he said making a statement in the Rajya Sabha on the 9 March incident in which an Indian unarmed super-sonic missile launched “inadvertently” landed in Pakistan

“During routine maintenance and inspection, a missile was accidentally released at around 7 pm. 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,” Rajnath said.

He informed the House that the government “has taken a serious note of the incident” and a “formal high-level inquiry has been ordered” which would “determine the exact cause of the said accident.”

He said; ”I would also like to state 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.”

“Moreover, our safety procedures and protocols are of the highest order and are reviewed from time to time. Our armed forces are well-trained and disciplined and are well experienced in handling such systems,” he said.

The incident came to light after the Pakistani military on 10 March mentioned in a press conference that an Indian missile had landed 124 km inside Pakistani territory the previous evening. It said that the missile had been launched from Sirsa and was moving southwest towards India’s Mahajan firing field when it suddenly turned northwest and entered Pakistani airspace before landing near Mian Channu Mian Channu in the Khanewal district.

Nobody was hurt by the missile, but it did damage a wall where it landed, according to the Pakistani military. Islamabad had summoned India’s envoy on 11 March and demanded that both countries should jointly probe the incident.