Action for firing BrahMos missile into Pak welcome

The action taken against three IAF officers for firing a BrahMos missile into Pakistani territory earlier this year is welcome, and making the action public is especially so. The three officers have been dismissed following trial after the misfired missile landed in the Punjab province of Pakistan on March 9. It was described as an accident, but was an action that could not be dismissed as a simple error. It was lucky that Pakistan did not respond to it in kind. Some major conflicts in history were triggered by accidents, and a mistakenly fired BrahMos missile could well have been one. There was no reason to judge an incoming missile as an accident in the none-too-friendly atmosphere that exists between India and Pakistan. Though the Pakistani officer/s who decided that it was a mistake did well to do so, it would be no surprise if they had to answer some tough questions from the top. It is a moot question whether they followed the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) prescribed for such situations.

India regretted the incident and explained that it was a “technical malfunction” that caused the firing of the missile. Pakistan lodged a strong diplomatic protest and demanded a joint probe into the incident. Islamabad has not accepted India’s investigation of the incident and the action against the IAF officers. It has stuck to the demand for a joint probe. India cannot accept the demand for obvious reasons but has conveyed a strong message by taking stringent action against the errant officers. The court of enquiry completed its investigation within six months and found that the officers were guilty of dereliction of duty and deviation from the SOP. The IAF has said that the overall SOPs for the operation, maintenance and inspection of such missile systems have also been revised in the wake of the incident.

The admission of its mistake by India and the action against the officers should allay Pakistan’s concerns and apprehensions. It had asked India to clarify whether such missiles were “indeed handled by its armed forces or some rogue elements”. Since the matter is over and the officers have been punished in an exemplary manner, it should no longer be an issue in bilateral relations. But there are some questions that India cannot ignore. The answers to these questions will not be in the public realm as they concern the functioning of the forces. They are about whether there is a 101% fool-proof system that rules out a technical or human error and whether the system has ensured against anyone going rogue or deviant for any reason. Pakistan’s non-response was an accident, and there is no scope for another incident like this in future.