Pakistan has rejected India’s action on the March 9 accidental firing of a supersonic missile that landed in its territory as “totally unsatisfactory, deficient and inadequate” and reiterated its demand for a joint probe.

On Tuesday, India’s defence ministry said the services of three officers of the Indian Air Force had been terminated after a court of inquiry (CoI) found that deviation from the standard operating procedures (SOPs) by them had led to the accidental firing of the Brahmos missile that landed in Punjab province.

The Pakistan foreign office in a late-night statement on Wednesday said it knew about India’s announcement of the findings of an internal CoI regarding the “incident of the firing of a rogue supersonic missile” into its territory and the decision to terminate the services of three IAF officers.

“Pakistan categorically rejects India’s purported closure of the highly irresponsible incident and reiterates its demand for a joint probe,” it said.

“As expected, the measures taken by India in the aftermath of the incident and the subsequent findings and punishments handed by the so-called internal Court of Inquiry are totally unsatisfactory, deficient and inadequate,” the statement said.

It alleged that India had not only failed to respond to Pakistan’s demand for a joint inquiry but also evaded the questions raised by Pakistan regarding the command-and-control system in place in India, the safety and security protocols and the “reason for India’s delayed admission of the missile launch”.

It said systemic loopholes and technical lapses of serious nature in the handling of strategic weapons “cannot be covered up beneath the veneer of individual human error”.