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Galle Dialogue and challenges in the Indian Ocean region
View(s):From the sidelines By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya
An aspect of regional security that has emerged from the recently concluded Galle Dialogue 2012 maritime conference is the inescapably collective nature of the responsibilities involved in keeping the Indian Ocean safe. Another inescapable reality that has become apparent in these talks, as well as other diplomatic interactions between Sri Lanka and its neighbours in recent times, has been the increasing prominence and leadership role being asserted by India in addressing the security challenges faced in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
India straddles the South Asia like a behemoth, and there is no debate over the fact that its navy is the biggest and most powerful in the region. Apart from Pakistan, no other state in the region has a ‘blue water fleet’ – meaning, one with vessels that can operate in the deep seas. How India’s smaller neighbours, including Sri Lanka, adapt to the new realities of the IOR and India’s role, will probably be a key foreign policy challenge for these states in the years ahead. India’s delegate at the Galle Dialogue 2012, Vice Admiral R. K. Dhowan, Vice Chief of Naval Staff of the Indian Navy, elaborated on the Indian point of view in some detail in his presentation.
The main threats to peace and stability in the region posed by non-state actors, as spelled out by Vice Admiral Dhowan, were more or less the same as those flagged by Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa in his keynote address. Common to both their lists were, threats posed by traffickers of arms, drugs and human beings, as well as poachers, terrorists and pirates.
Dhowan like many other analysts in recent times drew attention to the ever increasing importance of the Indian Ocean. It has become the ‘economic highway’ of the world today, with 66% of oil shipments, 33% of bulk cargo and 50% of the world’s container traffic passing through its waters, the most critical of the cargo being petroleum. “We see the role of the Indian Navy as a major stabilizing force in this great movement of energy across the Indian Ocean, as India is cognizant of the need for security in the ‘global commons,” he said.
India’s role in combating piracy that originated from the shores of Somalia and moved towards the Gulf of Aden is no doubt impressive, as outlined by Dhowan. (“A total of 40 piracy attempts have been prevented by Indian naval ships, and no ship under Indian escort has thus far been hijacked.”)
He drew attention to numerous other Indian initiatives and joint exercises as well, such as ‘coordinated patrolling’ with maritime neighbours. The Hindu reporting on the Galle Dialogue said that India had conducted ‘coordinated patrolling’ around the region of the Malacca Straits. This would seem to indicate that India has marked its presence in a very wide swath of oceanic terrain, stretching from the Gulf of Aden all the way east to the Strait of Malacca.
While India stresses the importance of cooperation and coordinated efforts towards achieving security in the region, how will littoral states respond to the role of ‘regional policeman on the high seas’ that India seeks to assert? A recent controversial remark by India’s Navy chief indicating readiness to deploy ships in the South China Sea, where India has a deal with Vietnam to explore for oil, perhaps points to the fact that the idea of ‘cooperative and collective effort’ is somewhat fragile at this stage. It would seem that the national interests of individual states, including those of India, inevitably get in the way.
It sounds logical enough when India argues that “the stability of maritime regions on the high seas is a common responsibility of adjacent coastal states and user states” and that “as no state can exercise autonomous command of the sea in such a vast region, the case for naval cooperation in maritime surveillance and enforcement is compelling…” Indeed there can be no other way. The problem seems to be that such a coordinated effort would require a better foundation of trust among the states of the region.
Where the India -Sri Lanka relations are concerned one of the biggest stumbling blocks has been the issue of poaching in Sri Lankan waters by Indian fishermen in trawlers – a problem that has escalated since restrictions on fishing were lifted at the end of the war. How much confidence can Sri Lanka, for one, have in a policing role for India on the high seas, when India itself is involved in a dispute over breaching of the International Maritime Boundary Line?
Referring to the issue, Rajapaksa in his address said the problem was particularly acute because of the economic impact on Tamil fishermen in the North and East who were rebuilding their livelihoods after decades of suppression under the LTTE. He said the fact that these fishermen have to compete with such large numbers of fishing craft that illegally enter our waters has ’caused great tension and frustration’ in these areas. The two governments have taken a number of steps to resolve the problem but ‘much more needed to be done.’
It appears that India’s ability to act decisively in this matter is compromised by domestic political considerations. The central government is too dependent on Tamil Nadu for coalition support, to disregard the shrill rhetoric that emanates from there in support of the South Indian poachers. But it is the self same Tamil Nadu politicians who vie with each other to champion the cause of Sri Lanka’s Northern Tamils.
Strangely it seems to escape their notice that this community includes a large proportion of fishermen whose livelihoods are threatened by their stance in relation to the poachers. It’s clear that Tamil Nadu’s rhetoric has more to do with winning elections than genuine solidarity with Sri Lanka’s Northern Tamils. Tamil Nadu’s attitude on this issue simply shows how well its politicians know to ‘run with the hare and hunt with the hound.’
Seeing that the Indian central government too constantly expresses concerns over livelihood issues of Tamil civilians in the North, it would be ironic indeed if, at the end of the day, the Northern fishermen are sacrificed at the altar of expediency owing to India’s inability to act in this matter. Still more ironic would be the fact that the bleeding hearts in Tamil Nadu were largely the cause of that inaction.
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