INDIA'S -GREAT FEAT- INSTANT

 

Islamabad : Pakistan on Friday termed the successful landing of Indian space mission on South Pole of the moon a ''great scientific achievement,'' saying Indian scientists deserved appreciation.

'' I can only say that it is a great scientific achievement, for which ISRO scientists deserve appreciation, '' Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zhara Baloch remarked at a weekly news briefing after being asked to comment on the landmark feat by India.

Pakistan's public acknowledgement of Indian scientific achievement is seen as rare given the current state of relationship between the two countries.

Many Pakistani's congratulated India for the feat.

India on August 23 staked a new claim as an international superpower in space, landing its  Chandrayaan-3 mission safely on the moon's unexplored South Pole.

The feat makes India the fourth country to land on the moon, and the first to land on one of the moon's lunar poles.

Previously, Russia [ then. the Soviet Union], the US and China landed spacecraft successfully on the moon.

Indian Prime Minister Naraendra Modi tuned in to the livestream of the landing from Johannesburg, where he was attending the 15th annual Brics summit of emerging markets.

'' All the people of the world, the people of every country and region : India's successful moon landing is not just India's alone .......  their success belongs to all of humanity,'' Modi said speaking on the Indian Space Research Organisation webcast of the event.

'' We can all aspire for the moon and beyond,'' Modi added.

The lunar South pole has emerged as a place for exploration interest thanks to recent discoveries of traces of water ice on the moon.

India previously attempted a lunar South Pole landing in Sept 2019, but a software failure caused the Chandrayaan-2 mission to crash into the surface.

The World Students Society thanks Kamran Yousaf, The Express Tribune.