India-Philippines Brahmos Missile Deal In Disarray – OpEd

India has been playing an irresponsible role when it comes to the regional peace and security. In March, an Indian Brahmos cruise missile got fired & landed in Pakistani territory. During its course, the missile was almost at the height of 40,000 ft putting many international and domestic flights at severe risk. Pakistan raised questions about incompetent handling and safety protocols and asked for a joint probe to investigate the incident.

Later, India after raising this issue from Pakistan just regretted over the incident. Indians claims about malfunction has yet still not been established, apparent internal investigation is underway but not the impartial one as Pakistan has been calling for.

The deal which had happened earlier with regards to the Brahmos missile system between India and Philippines is now under question after the Philippines also called on Indian ambassador and asked about what really happened. Indian ambassador to Philippines said it was not a concern but a query from Philippines and assured that there is no real technical problem which off course is again in contradiction looking into the statements coming out from the Indian side.  

Indian ambassador to Philippines, Shambhu S. Kumaran, was asked to explain what happened with the Brahmos missile on the night of 9 March. The ambassador was asked if the nuclear-capable missiles are ‘faulty’ and if the Philippines should review the Brahmos deal with India. Philippines had signed a $375 million deal to buy three batteries of the Brahmos missile from India. India had called the deal – signed earlier this year – its first for a major weapon system. The Philippines is the first country to buy this missile.

Philippines was interested in buying Brahmos missile from India but after the recent incident if India claims that it was a technical malfunction the Philippines would look into the safety and credibility of the weapon. The kind of government India has and its impact and trickle down is quite evident for the world. Whatever happened between India and Pakistan was a technical problem or whether it was a human error, in either case, this actually portrays India in a very negative light. 

This is a suitable time for Pakistan to diplomatically engage the world. It is the way forward for Pakistan to go ahead in the context of both national security and international security situation where two nuclear armed countries could have gone to the brink of nuclear war. Pakistan reacted and responded in a logical way before went into any response otherwise the whole region could have been turned under the scenario of nuclear challenge.

Whenever Pakistan was accused of something bad going on, Pakistan was told that there are bodies which can sanction Pakistan but world community is silent on this blunder from India. The reason why World does not want to talk about India is this domain is economic interests and bloc politics. Indians are being backed by the western world, especially America. Pakistan is in the Chinese bloc because of the CPEC and OBOR, we are holding our point of view and Indian’s response saying it was a technical glitch does not seems true.

India is a country that is addicted to acquire foreign warfare machinery but it also sells it, so, those who are buying it naturally must be concerned that either platform is faulty and would it be beneficial to buy this from India? India has stuck between the rock and a hard place, it they tell the truth that what went wrong during accidental fire of Brahmos missile  it is going to be  a bad situation for India overall in this sale perspective. 

*Jawad Ahmed, The writer is a Researcher with MPhil in International with having interest in Politics, Bilateralism and Strategic Studies. Can be reached at [email protected]