ISLAMABAD: The Chairperson of Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Senator Sherry Rehman, on Wednesday raised questions over the story involving the so-called mistakenly launched Indian missile that recently landed in Pakistan.

Chairing a meeting of the committee, she said that the Indian missile crash in Pakistan was an extremely dangerous indicator of multiple crises that could have been precipitated to set off unimaginable consequences.

She noted that escalation of hostilities between the two powerful and nuclear countries must be avoided at all costs, especially in the absence of a framework for scaling down.

She said there was no current example in the world of such a risk-laden environment where two nuclear powers who have had four wars between them are also direct neighbours.

“It is because of our turbulent history that the severity of this so-called ‘mistake’ cannot go unnoticed by Pakistan and the international community,” she said.

Ms Rehman said it was of paramount importance to note that this ‘technical glitch’ did not occur in the disputed territory rather 500 km from Islamabad in Mian Channu. She said the incident called into question why India, a country that is ranked the third highest in the military spending ($72.9 billion per year) just after the US and China, could let a mishap of such enormous magnitude “slip” through during a ‘routine check’.

“To many of us it seems that this was a message from India to Pakistan. When taken into account past behavior, the international community’s silence is disappointing. It causes us to question would this be similarly received by the world had it been Pakistan launching its missiles at India, especially accidentally."

The Secretary of Foreign Affairs provided a comprehensive account of his visit to Moscow stating that it had been planned well in advance and it had resulted in positive discussion on multiple levels with Russia.

Senator Rehman said that when discussing matters of foreign policy it was imperative to keep personal anger at bay.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2022