The Balochistan "Missiles" in a Row and the Dera Ghazi Khan Lights

In August 1998, American Tomahawk cruise missiles crossed Pakistani airspace, and the Pakistani press claimed that one had landed in Balochistan's Kharan Desert. Two years later, when lights crossed the province's night sky, the first word on everyone's lips was missiles.

Tuesday, 15 August 2000. Late at night. Saleem Shahid filed for Dawn from Quetta: "Flares, presumably those of missiles or rockets, were seen flying over Quetta and other cities of Balochistan late Tuesday night causing scare among the people."

Iftikhar Chaudhary, Deputy Commissioner of Barkhan, had seen them himself. "The flares or 'missiles' were moving with a very high speed in a row of six to seven," he said. In Loralai, Deputy Commissioner Shoaib Mir confirmed the overflight, and people in Hostri, Kocha Killi and Mara Tangi had spotted the objects too. The Political Agent for Chagai confirmed it as well.

By 17 August the provincial government counted seven unidentified objects, seen from Noshki to Fort Munro. They had moved from west to east, into Punjab province.

ISPR's Director General, Maj. Gen. Rashid Qureshi, said he "was not in a position either to confirm or deny it." Police, levies, militiamen and helicopters combed Loralai, Barkhan, Kohlu and the adjoining areas. Then Colonel Saulat of ISPR announced that "neither any missile nor any rocket had landed anywhere in Balochistan." Taliban sources in Kandahar denied that missiles had been fired. The provincial government was blunter: "Due to the technical peculiarities it could very safely be said that the objects were not missiles."

21 August, about 9 p.m. Residents of Qila Abdullah watched "a bright silent object traverse the sky from west to east" before it descended into the hills. Abdul Faiz, a government employee on holiday in his village, said "there was no sound and no blast or anything else."

Sunday, 27 August, 8:30 p.m. Near Dera Ghazi Khan, tribesmen saw an object from the west pass over Fort Munro and Rakhi Gaaj. It hit the ground between Baghalchor and Rounghin, some 80km from the city. "It was nose-diving and after a few moments the sky was lit up."

Reporting for Dawn, Tariq Birmani added a stranger claim, from no named source. An object had landed near a PAF air base in Rajanpur district on 15 August, and "Its wreckage was removed by members of sensitive agencies a few days ago." A Dera Ghazi Khan official told IANS: "We don't believe in these reports. Nothing has been found."

No one alleged a hoax, and the missile theory was denied on all sides. A line of fast lights crossing hundreds of kilometres in one direction is the classic look of a fireball or space debris breaking up on re-entry, and a silent diving light that brightens the sky fits a bright meteor. Yet no re-entry has been matched to 15 August, and the wreckage story never gained a named witness.

29 January 2006, 10 p.m. A light so strong that a resident of Tuman Buzdar could see the ground clearly crossed the Dera Ghazi Khan tribal area from south to north. Dawn recalled the objects of 2000 and the wreckage said to have been recovered near Farid Air Base. The Border Military Police found no sign of a landing. The 2000 reports survive mainly in transcripts kept by Patrick Gross.