Director General Inter Services Public Relations Major Babar Iftikhar Thursday revealed that it was an Indian projectile that crashed last night near Mian Channu.

Addressing the media, he said the projectile had put in danger the security of the flying zone.

"Pakistan Air Force continuously monitored that complete flying path of the object, from its point of origin [...] to its point of impact," he said.

Pakistan Air Force shot down an Indian projectile that entered Pakistani airspace and violated international conventions. He also strongly condemned the violation of Pakistan’s airspace by India.

He said that the projectile travelled 124kms inside Pakistan from India.

"We detected the object on time and took necessary action as per the standard operating procedures (SOPs)," he said, adding that no casualties took place because of the incident. 

"Some material damage was caused to a building because of the object and a crater was formed," he said.

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

Answering a question, the DG ISPR said: "We were absolutely monitoring the flight path of this object."

Maj Gen Iftikhar confirmed that there was "no sensitive installation in the area where the object was shot down."

"The flight path endangered civilians in both Pakistan and India. India must explain what caused this; this reflects poorly on Indian aviation," he said, adding that this could have resulted in a major aviation disaster.

Pakistan strongly protests the "flagrant violation", he said.

He said they are still investigating the nature of the projectile but one thing is confirmed the projectile was not armed. However, he said that the major possibility is that this projectile was a missile.

He said that they are further investigating and still could not tell about the specifics of the projectile, however, one thing is clear that Indian technology was not up to the mark. He said India had to give an explanation for this intrusion.

He said "testing and trial of such weapon systems do take place". "But what this was, India has to explain."

"This incident reflects the questionable capabilities of the human resources working on these programmes in India as well as this technology."

Asked for more details about the object, he said: "We are not claiming anything right now. As a responsible nation, we will wait for India to respond. We have given details of whatever we know right now. But it is for the Indians to explain what happened in Mian Channu."

"All our forces are alert to the threat and challenges that we face."

Speaking about an uptick of terrorism incidents in the country, the DG ISPR said that the country's armed forces are taking prompt actions to thwart the nefarious designs of the enemy.

"So far, we have killed 80 terrorists during the past few weeks," he said. 

More to follow