The throbbing Indian Ocean Region (IOR), on the global orb has been a zone of ceaseless vying among the great powers for umpteen decades. The steps of Vasco De Gama, the first European to uncover this sea route of India invited not only the Portuguese but also other Western civilizations in the period following the 15th century to Asia. Hence, the idea of the foreign intervention was induced with Gama’s ingress. The Dutch, French all came in row but the constant contest dates back to the colonization days of Great Britain whose reign lasted the longest and benefitted them the most until the day of their ‘elegant decline’ as dubbed by James R. Holmes in his book ‘Indian Naval Strategy in the 21st Century’.
The Treaty of Vienna in 1815 kept the foundation of British entry in the territory. History can never be detached from present. It remains an inexact indicator at best of how the future will unfold. The old practices of Britain still have its influence to this day. It remains an indirect participatory in the geopolitical conditions that Indian Ocean Region even now maintains. The colonization largely manipulated the rights of inhabitants of Asia. The eccentric and productive materials like wood, spices, jute, tea, rubber were transported from Asia to Europe through the IOR waters to run British economy. Till 19th century the colonizer had attained complete supremacy of ocean. The power formula was so strong that the Indian Ocean was dubbed as ‘The British Lake’. Until the Second World War, no entity could snatch the blighty lordship. However, the ‘elegant decline’ was never significant to the littoral states. One of the vital base in Indian Ocean on Diego Garcia Island was handed to the present day hegemon United States of America. Professor Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema (late), author of book Conflict and Cooperation in the Indian Ocean: Pakistan’ Interest and Choices states that a ‘vacuum’ was created from the British departure in 1971, however it shaped more chaos for the littoral states. The depart could not be of any much sigh to the inhabitant countries. He uses the word ‘dangerous’ to depict the lacuna. The naval power of the littoral states was under developed and even up till today is not ample. They already had domestic local crisis, inter-disputes and lack of cooperation which never allowed the IOR to transform in zone of peace even after the British decamped.
Sea Lines of Communication (SLOCs) had never been a small enticement to great powers. Former Soviet Union and USA filled the gap by choosing the IOR to satisfy their Cold War thirst. The littoral countries reacted to this again foreign intervention with condemn. They raised the idea to create the region a ‘Nuclear Free Zone,’ in a 1964 Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Conference, but like the Sri Lankan initiative of creating IOR as a peace zone the non-inclination of great powers could not allow it to be significant. Sirimavo Bandaranaike, world’s first-elected lady Prime Minister from Sri Lanka, was the initiator of the concept ‘Indian Ocean – Zone of Peace’.
The approach was popularized during her regime among the NAM countries before instigating it at universal platform. Hence the attribution of the idea has always been associated to Sri Lanka. In September 1970, the NAM Conference at Lusaka Zambia, made the non-aligned states an admirer to this concept. The formal word debut of concept was delivered by a letter from Shirley Amerasinghe, diplomat from Sri Lanka to United Nations, General Assembly to include the agenda in session 1971. Hence the 26th UNGA passed a resolution in favor of Indian Ocean states with extensive opposition from West and Europe. The elevating economic, political and military tensions in the Indian Ocean Region created the need for such a proposal and UN declaration of 1971. The belief was to eliminate the super power mediation and rivalry from the region to preserve the sovereignty, security and independence of Asian states. India which was in the developers of Non-Aligned movement 1961 has always favored the concept on formal podiums however in the United Nations Resolution on IOR- Peace Zone the back door unity with opposition left gaps in it which made it of less implication.
India the rising economy of Asia has always shown intense seriousness in achieving naval supremacy. Red Sea, South China Sea, Southern Indian Ocean and East Pacific region are the pre-eminent focus of India. The country sits the closest to this rim and remains the most related than the other present contenders in ocean. The strategic location on globe helps it to remain close to East Asia and West. It is targeting the major Asian power ‘Republic of China’ on one board and on the other edge is representative of its regional countries on several platforms. It has tied hands with the supreme technological might of Washington, keeping it explicitly aware of fact that the more muscular India is the more it may curb China. Its interest in naval strategy can be traced from the words of their prominent leader ‘Jawaharlal Nehru’. He stated: ‘I look at India…which in a sense may be said to be in the very lap of an ocean. From time immemorial, the people of India has very intimate connections with the sea. Later on the country became weak. Now that we are free we cannot afford to be weak at sea.’
Former US Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral James Stavridis writing in his book Sea Power: The History and Geopolitics of World’s Oceans deliberates on the numerous rivalries on the borders of Indian Ocean. Territorial, sectarian, religious, ethnic crisis all denizen in the history of IOR. The regional integration could not be attained due to the fact that most of the littoral states are interested in maintaining relations with great powers. India the rising resident economy is spreading its naval muscles contrary to China with the assistance of United States. They signed a military cooperation deal in the ongoing year 2018 and claims to enlarge the defense bilateral exchange to billion degree figure in 2019. Lately in 2017, Prime minister of India, Narendra Modi had requested US to lend it potent drones to survey the Chinese progress in Indian Ocean. In April 2019, India has purchased 24 MH-60R anti-submarine helicopter from Washington and 30 MK-54 torpedoes to go with the chopper. The two have agreed to perform joint exercises of army, navy and air force on Eastern Indian Coast under the Communications, Compatibility, Security Agreement (COMCASA).
The scenario of hostility is empathetically depicting the aphorism ‘Enemy of your enemy is your friend’. The approach is played by the group of players involved in Indian Ocean. After collapse of the former Soviet Union, USA started to vision People’s Republic of China (PRC) as its biggest rising opponent of all times. On one tag end the two are keeping each other closest in terms of trade to keep the complex interdependence alive while on the other margin are using their allies to continue the tradition of cold war. The tournament in IOR is nothing but reminiscence of old Cold War of “US vs. Soviet Union”. In the words of James R. Holmes ‘everything old is new again’. The primal nuclear history is in repeat in the theaters of the Indian Ocean considered the most “nuclearized of all the seven seas”.
