By Zahid Shah

ISLAMABAD (TSAT) - Pakistan army on Thursday accused India of violating its airspace and a high-speed flying object fell inside the southern part of the country that could cause a major human disaster as international and domestic flights were in the air at the time of the incident.

Speaking to reporters, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Major General Babar Iftikhar said that Wednesday around 6:43 PM, local time, a Hi-speed flying object was picked up inside Indian Territory by the Air Defence Operations Center of PAF.

“From its initial course, the object suddenly maneuvered towards Pakistani Territory and violated Pakistan Air Space ultimately falling near Mian Channu at 6:50 PM also damaged some civilian property,” said the spokesman of the Pakistan army.

“Thankfully, no loss or injury to human life was caused,” he added.

According to the military spokesman, Pakistan Air Force was continuously monitoring the complete flight path of the flying object from its point of origin Sirsa in India till its point of impact near Mian Channu and initiated requisite tactical actions by SOPs.

He said that the flight path of that object was endangered as many International and domestic passenger flights both in Indian and Pakistani airspace as well as human life and property on the ground.

The military spokesman urged New Delhi to explain whatever caused this incident to happen.

“It nevertheless shows their disregard for aviation safety and reflects very poorly on their technological prowess and procedural efficiency.

“The incident could have resulted in a major aviation disaster as well as civilian casualties on the ground,” said Gen. Babar.

Islamabad also lodged a strong protest over violation of its airspace by India and warned against recurrence of any such incident in the future, 

Air Vice Marshall Tariq Zia told the reporters that at the time this projectile was picked up, there were two airway routes active and several commercial airlines in the area, Dawn reported.

 "If you look at the speed and height of the projectile, it was 40,000 feet high, and the airlines were between 35,000 to 42,000 feet. This could have been very detrimental to the safety of passengers,” Dawn quoted Zia as saying. 

Pakistan army has no sensitive or important installation in the area where the Indian projectile fell down.

On Feb. 27, 2019, Pakistan downed Indian MIG-21 fighter jets and captured one pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman after the plane crashed in Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir.

While according to the Pakistan military, the second aircraft crashed inside Indian administered Kashmir. However, India rejected the claim of crashing its second fighter jet.

Relations between the two South Asian nuclear rivals remained tense since August 2019, when India unilaterally scrapped the special status of disputed Jammu and Kashmir and divided the Muslim majority region into two union territories.