Indonesian President’s plan to club visits to India, Pakistan puts Delhi at unease amid Brahmos negotiations

New Delhi: Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is keen to add momentum to bilateral defence cooperation during Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s forthcoming visit to attend the Republic Day ceremony, his plan to club tours to India and Pakistan has caused unease in New Delhi.

Islamabad already started preparation to host the Indonesian President from January 26 to 28 with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif constituting a committee, headed by his government’s planning and development minister Ahsan Iqbal, to explore avenues of enhancing cooperation between the two nations and expand bilateral trade.

New Delhi in the past conveyed its reservations to foreign leaders clubbing visits to India and Pakistan. Barack Obama, the former president of the United States, had dropped his plan to have a stopover in Islamabad while visiting New Delhi in November 2010, after being informed about the sensitivities of India.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in February 2019 separated his visits to Islamabad and New Delhi with a brief tour to Dubai, just to respect India’s sensitivities.

A source in New Delhi said the officials of India and Indonesia were in discussion about the itinerary of the president.

The visit by Subianto to New Delhi and his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi will likely add momentum to bilateral defence cooperation, particularly the sale of the BrahMos missiles to Indonesia.

Indonesia’s defence minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin recently confirmed that collaboration on BrahMos technology was on the agenda.

India in January 2022 inked a $375 million deal with the Philippines for the supply of the BrahMos missile. India is also negotiating a $700 million deal with Vietnam.

If New Delhi and Jakarta can make progress in negotiations, Indonesia could be the third Southeast Asian nation in the “backyard of China” to have the missiles made in India.

The BrahMos missiles are designed, developed and manufactured by the BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited, a joint venture of the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) of India and the NPO Mashinostroyeniya (NPOM) of Russia.

Subianto is going to be the fourth leader of Indonesia to be the chief guest at the Republic Day ceremony in India. India had hosted the Southeast Asian nation’s first president Sukarno as the chief guest at the first Republic Day ceremony in 1950.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had attended the ceremony as the chief guest in 2011. Joko Widodo had come along with other ASEAN leaders in 2018 when New Delhi had hosted all 10 Southeast Asian leaders as the chief guests to witness the R-Day parade on the Kartavya Path.

Nearly 350 soldiers of the armed forces of Indonesia are expected to join the personnel of the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force at the military parade on the Kartavya Path in New Delhi on January 26 with Subianto joining President Draupadi Murmu to take the salute.