Pakistani Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch on Wednesday slammed Indian media reports claiming that International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi had said that India’s accidental firing of a BrahMos nuclear-capable missile into Pakistani territory this March was “not a cause for any specific concern.”
Responding to a media query, the Pakistani official called the reports a “disingenuous attempt by the Indian state-sponsored media to absolve India of its irresponsible nuclear behaviour.”
Though Baloch did not deny that Grossi had made the remarks, it said the transcripts of the interaction showed Grossi saying the IAEA did not seek any information about the BrahMos firing from the Indian government because it has no mandate on such incidents.
The spokesperson thus argued that Indian media had “purposely misinterpreted” Grossi’s comments to “trivialize the incident,” which she said could have had “grave implications for regional and global security.”
Keeping this in mind, Baloch called on India to explain its “underlying intentions, technical features and reliability of [its] missile system, safety, security and nuclear command and control protocols, and the presence of rogue elements in the Indian military.”
#ExpressInterview | ‘India a platform for new nuclear technologies… I see a very bright future’: IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi https://t.co/agrB7xXVqk
— The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) November 14, 2022
She further alleged that there have been “several repeated incidents of nuclear and radioactive material theft and illicit trafficking” in India.
Pakistan’s rebuke comes in response to a media report by The Indian Express on 14 November that wrote that Grossi had said during the COP27 climate action conference in Egypt that the IAEA did not consider the accidental missile launch “as a risk” and that there was “no consultation” with India in this regard.
According to the media report, Grossi highlighted that while the organisation looks at nuclear situations worldwide, it did not consider the incident to be a cause of “specific concern.”
In fact, the IAEA chief lauded India as a platform for the “deployment of newer technologies” such as breeders, fast reactors, and sodium reactors.
Talking about further cooperation between the IAEA and India, Grossi said he would like to discuss the possibility of developing modular reactors with the government, arguing that the country’s conditions, morphology, and large distances and remote locations provide the ideal space for such reactors.
He opined, however, that India’s nuclear industry is not operating at the expected level. India has 22 operational plants with a capacity of 6,780 megawatts, accounting for only 2% of its total installed electricity capacity of 407 gigawatts.
Nevertheless, given that India is expected to set up ten other nuclear power plants in the coming five to ten years, Grossi expressed optimism that India can reduce the usual 8-15 years taken to set up a plant.
In this regard, he celebrated China for its “breathtaking pace,” noting that some of its plants took just three and a half years to complete.
He said, “Frankly, there is nothing inherent that prevents building of nuclear reactors within very reasonable time frames which matches the urgency called for by the climate change crisis. If you are talking about abating carbon dioxide completely by 2040 or 2050, you would need to build nuclear reactors at a fast pace.”
On 9 March, India accidentally launched an unarmed BrahMos nuclear-capable supersonic cruise missile that landed in Mian Channu in Pakistan. India quickly explained that the incident occurred due to a “technical malfunction” during “routine maintenance.”
The government expressed ‘deep regret’ for the incident and has since fired three Air Force officers for their role in the accident after concluding that they had “deviated” from standard operating procedures. Investigators determined that the incident resulted from human error and not a technical issue with the missile.
Islamabad, however, has refused to accept the findings of any internal inquiries by New Delhi and speculated that “rogue elements” were behind the accidental launch. It has also questioned India’s “ability to handle such sensitive technologies” and criticised what it perceived to be “loopholes and technical lapses of serious nature in Indian handling of strategic weapons.”