India’s government still hasn’t explained how it was blindsided by China’s stealth land-grabs in Ladakh @Chellaney

Brahma Chellaney
@Chellaney

Strategic thinker, author, commentator

Five years on, India’s government still hasn’t explained how it was blindsided by China’s stealth land-grabs in Ladakh. Worse, it has sought to obscure the current reality on the ground.

Now, a new and troubling question confronts the nation: Why did India, under U.S. pressure, abruptly halt a military campaign against Pakistan just as its armed forces had seized the upper hand? Instead of capitalizing on that military momentum to secure a decisive outcome, the operation was inconclusively terminated within three days — after a phone call from JD Vance to Modi.

Typically, a ceasefire is carefully negotiated, with terms vetted and agreed upon by both parties. Yet in this case, an oral understanding was hastily cobbled together — without any commitment from either the U.S. or Pakistan to dismantle the latter’s state-sponsored terrorist infrastructure. The root cause of the conflict was left unaddressed, even as Washington shielded Pakistan from the consequences of its actions.

The result? Donald Trump — the real estate mogul who has fancied acquiring Greenland, the Panama Canal and even Gaza — has now turned his gaze to Kashmir, while remaining conspicuously silent on the cross-border terrorism that India continues to face.

Kanwal Sibal
@KanwalSibal
Who has provided the means to enable Pakistan to continue its rivalry with India by way of aiding it to become nuclear or countenancing it, providing arms including advanced aircraft, as well as financial aid including a slate of IMF bailouts, giving a pass to Pakistan knowing its terrorist affiliations, interfering in the Kashmir issue in Pakistan’s favour?

Both China and the US?

Did the US leverage its power to oppose the CPEC project which means a physical Chinese presence in J& K and a Chinese entry into the Arabian Sea?

Let’s not simplify things by making shallow analyses about how India- Pak rivalry diminishes India’s role in the Indo- Pacific.

Rana Ayyub
@RanaAyyub

I was hoping Prime Minister Modi would clarify Trump’s role in the ceasefire. Trump claimed yesterday that he stopped a nuclear war. Without a clear statement, we risk misinterpretations—and give the US room to overstate its role in resolving the crisis.

Jairam Ramesh
@Jairam_Ramesh
BrahMos is very much in the news these days. It is named after the Brahmaputra and the Moskva rivers and is an outstanding example of Indo-Russian collaboration. It is also yet another remarkable proof of continuity in governance which simply cannot be denied or erased – despite it being the regular habit of today’s ruling establishment in New Delhi.

India’s Integrated Missile Development Programme began in 1983. It has had great successes. Sometime in the mid-90s, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and his colleagues like Dr. Sivathanu Pillai felt the need for collaboration with the Russians for supersonic cruise missiles. An inter-governmental agreement was signed on Feb 12, 1998 when IK Gujral was PM. Incidentally he was India’s Ambassador to the USSR 1976-80. Thereafter the first contract was signed on July 9, 1999, when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was PM. The first successful launch took place on June 12, 2001.

The BrahMos HQ complex that includes design, simulation and aerospace knowledge facilities was inaugurated in New Delhi on Dec 4, 2004 by President Putin.

Thereafter the missile was inducted into the Indian Navy in 2005 and Indian Army in 2007. The air-launched variant of BrahMos appeared in 2012. All this was when Dr. Manmohan Singh was PM. It was his leadership that led to the historic Indo-US nuclear agreement of 2005, paving the way for India finally joining the Missile Technology Control Regime eleven years later. It was also during his tenure that the BrahMos Integration Complex in Hyderabad and the Brahmos Aerospace Thiruvananthapuram Limited were established.