Indian BrahMos Missile Accident Nearly Led to Pakistan Retaliation

 The day after Secretary of Defense Rajnatsin told Congress how the missile was "accidentally launched" on March 9, a Bloomberg report claims Pakistan was to launch a similar missile in retaliation.

  Bloomberg reports that the Indian Air Force has launched a BrahMos medium-range cruise missile from Ambala, Haryana, about 200 km from Delhi. The missile damaged several residential buildings but did not cause any casualties. 

Bloomberg reports that India did not use a direct hotline between the commanders on both sides to notify Pakistan. Instead, Air Force officials switched to shutting down the missile system to avoid further launches, Bloomberg reported.

  The Pakistani Air Force said it was tracking the missile's trajectory from Sirsa, Haryana to the landing site in the town of Mian Chanu city in Pakistan's Punjab province.

 Babal Iftikhar, a military spokesman, told reporters last weekend.

 The government said the accidental shot was due to "technical malfunctions as part of routine maintenance." View from In Congress, Rajnath Singh said the government was reviewing standard operational procedures for post-incident operations, maintenance, and inspections. "India will put the safety of its missile system first, and any gaps found by the probe will be addressed," he said.

 Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Tuesday that "if not taken up by the Pakistani Air Force in India and there was an accidental response," the result was "very serious." The United States is supporting India, saying there is no evidence that the missile launch was nothing more than an accident. 

 India-Pakistan relations are at their lowest level since 2019 when soldiers were killed in a suicide bombing in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama. India bombed Pakistan's Balakot, followed by a dogfight between neighboring countries.