ISLAMABAD, Mar 15 (APP): National Security Adviser (NSA) Dr Moeed Yusuf on Tuesday said the Indian simplistic explanation for the intruding supersonic missile that crashed into Pakistan’s territory on March 9 as an accident was insufficient without evidence and should be unacceptable to the world.
Responding to the Indian statement on the issue, the NSA on his Twitter handle wrote, “India has again claimed that the launch of its missile into Pakistan on 9th March was an accident during routine maintenance. This simplistic explanation without evidence is insufficient and should be unacceptable to the world.
“We remind India and the world that this was a highly sophisticated supersonic missile which could have caused loss of life in Pakistan and resulted in escalation between two nuclear armed countries.”
Once again, he said, everyone must see for themselves which was the responsible state. “We all know that such incidents can easily escalate — history is full of such instances.”
He underlined that it was Pakistan that had once again acted responsibly to avoid any escalation. “This is exactly how we acted in 2019 when we shot down intruding Indian fighter planes after India tried to bomb us. We even voluntarily returned their downed pilot to avoid escalation”, he said.
Dr Moeed said the world should realise that escalatory actions by India were a pattern, not an exception. “This is a classic character of an irresponsible and untrustworthy state when it comes to handling of such sensitive weapon systems”.
India’s continued demonstration of lack of adequate safety and security protocols of their high end weapons systems raised serious questions that remained unanswered by India, he added.
“Their indifferent and dismissive approach after the incident is even more worrisome,” he said.
The NSA said that only a transparent joint probe could address the many unanswered questions about this so called mistake.
Earlier, the NSA shared tweets on the UN’s adoption of landmark resolution introduced by Pakistan, on behalf of OIC, designating 15 March as International Day to Combat Islamophobia.
He wrote, “Today, on March 15, the Muslim world is observing the International Day to Combat Islamophobia. Pakistan, under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan, has been at the forefront of raising its voice against intolerance and discrimination against Muslims.”
He highlighted that even in the country’s immediate neighbourhood, this discrimination was rising to unprecedented levels.
“The recent Hijab controversy under the tutelage of an intolerant Indian government & attacks on places of worship of Muslim & other minorities in India is concerning for the entire region,” he noted.
The NSA added that the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has declared March 15 a day against Islamophobia.
“Pakistan will continue to work with all countries at the UN to make this a UN recognized day”, he concluded.
