"For a Slice of the Sea" - a perspective from India

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080131/jsp/opinion/story_8842650.jsp#

Issue Date: Thursday , January 31 , 2008
FOR A SLICE OF THE SEA
FIFTH COLUMN - Abhijit Bhattacharyya

If a navy operates in the high seas, it is termed a 'call of duty',
but if it were to host the naval chiefs of 31 nations, it would be called an
exercise in diplomacy. The Indian navy is reportedly keen on a dual role:
establish its influence among littoral states and promote security in the
Indian Ocean region. With this in mind, it is reportedly organizing a naval
symposium for Indian Ocean-rim countries next month.

Significantly, another high profile exhibition, titled 'Def Expo', is
also slated to be held around the same time. It thus appears that while the
navy resorts to discussion on defence issues during the day, it falls back
on diplomacy and dinner by night.

Who are the participants and what are their current positions in the
Indian Ocean? Are they in a position to make useful contributions during the
proposed meet? Of the participants, only a few have the capacity of limited,
but sustained, ocean-going capability - South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Iran,
Pakistan, India, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and Australia can be cited
as examples. However, the navies of Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia,
Djibouti, Eritrea, Yemen, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bahrain, the United Arab
Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Mauritius
have virtually little to offer in terms of conventional naval combat.

Perhaps what prompted the naval pundits to invite these nations as
well was their desire to pre-empt terror strikes by using the naval
facilities, beaches, ports and wharfs of these littoral states.
Significantly, two important littoral states -Pakistan and Iran - may give
the meet a miss. Of course, the show will go on even then, but this would
mean that the chances of developing an effective deterrent against an
unexpected but real time threat emanating from areas such as the Persian
Gulf, Gulf of Oman or the Strait of Hormuz remain slim. In this context, one
may cite the fact that in the high seas, small, agile vessels manned by
suicide squads often succeed in exposing the weaknesses of bigger, powerful
ships.

Small fry

The naval strength of some of the participants remain doubtful, even
during peace. Amongst the African nations, barring South Africa, none of the
other countries possess submarines, frigates or even corvettes. In fact,
they have virtually no sea-going vessels to deal with a threat from the
seas. The capability of some of the Asian navies, such as Yemen, the
Maldives and Cambodia, is equally circumspect. Interestingly, tiny Bahrain,
which houses the headquarters of the US navy's fifth fleet, is a strong
naval power.

The Indian navy appears to be a Goliath among the participants. Only
the French navy, which will be present on the occasion, appears stronger.
The French connection is of considerable importance to the proposed naval
seminar, considering Nicolas Sarkozy has signed a deal with the UAE to set
up a military base there. Nevertheless, the possible absence of Pakistan and
Iran is likely to take some shine off the show. Tehran and Islamabad would
have offered rare first-hand insights into the problems that sailors face on
this perilous 'oil route'.

Judging by the names and numbers of participants, New Delhi's aim is
quite clear. India seems to have taken the cue from the recent utterances of
the US navy's chief of naval operations, who propounded the formation of a
1,000-ship navy comprising like-minded foreign flotillas to fight the war on
terror. There is a difference between the approaches of New Delhi and
Washington though. Whereas the US navy is concentrating on the world's
oceans, New Delhi is focussing on the Indian ocean only. India thus cannot
be compared to the US, which is the lord of the seven seas.





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