By Seema Mustafa
India has virtually agreed to joint policing of international waters with the United States in the 10-year defence agreement signed between the two governments in Washington. The agreement is being seen as a "back-door entry" for India into the US-led 11-nation Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) that is now claiming the right to stop and search ships not merely in coastal waters, but also on international waters, merely on the suspicion that a vessel could be carrying missile shipments.
India, which has opened its waters over the past few years to the United States, is now readying for a more substantive "engagement" that has been legitimised in the defence agreement as conducting joint exercises, collaborating in multinational operations, strengthening the militaries' capabilities to defeat terrorism and enhancing capabilities to combat proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). The 11 nations in the PSI include the US, Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Australia, Poland and the Netherlands. Asian and African countries have kept out of the initiative so far.
The provisions of the PSI allow the member nations to stop and search air, sea and land cargo based on mere suspicion that these could be linked to WMDs. Such searches can be conducted in sovereign waters and airspace. The proposal has evoked sharp reactions from the Indian strategic establishment with experts pointing out that the deployment of the Indian Navy and Air Force for PSI interdiction activities carries a major security and strategic risk for the country. It has also been pointed out that the intervention will not be accepted by major countries in Asia, including China, and India as a participant would stand the risk of isolation in her own neighbourhood.
The Americans have, in the meanwhile, lured India into joint cooperation with its Navy. The days when the mere movement of the US Seventh Fleet in the Indian Ocean elicited strong comments from India are long over. The CPI(M) protest three years ago against the docking of two US vessels, USS Garry and USS Vandegrift, at Kochi is also now a matter of the past with American ships docking with increasing regularity at west coast ports. "Exercise Malabar" opened Indian waters to American vessels two years ago with over 2,000 Navy personnel and state-of-the-art warships from the US and India involved in the joint naval exercise at Kochi, Kerala.
The joint exercise, pedalled as a major step forward in US-India relations, was designed, for the record, to increase "interoperability" between the two Navies. It also helped legitimise joint cooperation to a point where the Indian Navy Chief, Admiral Arun Prakash, in a recent interview to a newspaper said the Indian Navy would like to participate in the PSI as a "core" country. He said India's inclusion was a political decision, but that the Navy was ready and willing. Some of the provisions of the PSI allow the 11 nations and other potential members to take the initiative to board and search any vessel under their jurisdiction in another state\'s waters suspected of carrying targeted cargoes, allow its own vessels to be boarded and searched by other states when targeted cargo is suspected, take steps to board and search other states\' vessels in a state\'s territorial waters and harbours as well as inspect the suspected cargo craft and seize such cargo in their ports, airfields or other facilities.
In other words, under the PSI a nation\'s sovereignty over its waters is given up entirely with Indian ships, ports and aircraft all being as liable for search and action as any other on the mere hint of suspicion. The Indian Navy also earned hostile reactions from Malaysia, Indonesia, and even China, when it responded to a US suggestion for joint patrolling in the Malacca Straits. Three years ago, Indian and US Navy ships participated in joint escort duties in the Malacca Straits using the excuse of checking piracy and terrorism to justify this action.
The Americans have, in the meanwhile, lured India into joint cooperation with its Navy. The days when the mere movement of the US Seventh Fleet in the Indian Ocean elicited strong comments from India are long over. The CPI(M) protest three years ago against the docking of two US vessels, USS Garry and USS Vandegrift, at Kochi is also now a matter of the past with American ships docking with increasing regularity at west coast ports. "Exercise Malabar" opened Indian waters to American vessels two years ago with over 2,000 Navy personnel and state-of-the-art warships from the US and India involved in the joint naval exercise at Kochi, Kerala.
The joint exercise, pedalled as a major step forward in US-India relations, was designed, for the record, to increase "interoperability" between the two Navies. It also helped legitimise joint cooperation to a point where the Indian Navy Chief, Admiral Arun Prakash, in a recent interview to a newspaper said the Indian Navy would like to participate in the PSI as a "core" country. He said India's inclusion was a political decision, but that the Navy was ready and willing. Some of the provisions of the PSI allow the 11 nations and other potential members to take the initiative to board and search any vessel under their jurisdiction in another state's waters suspected of carrying targeted cargoes, allow its own vessels to be boarded and searched by other states when targeted cargo is suspected, take steps to board and search other states' vessels in a state's territorial waters and harbours as well as inspect the suspected cargo craft and seize such cargo in their ports, airfields or other facilities.
In other words, under the PSI a nation's sovereignty over its waters is given up entirely with Indian ships, ports and aircraft all being as liable for search and action as any other on the mere hint of suspicion. The Indian Navy also earned hostile reactions from Malaysia, Indonesia, and even China, when it responded to a US suggestion for joint patrolling in the Malacca Straits. Three years ago, Indian and US Navy ships participated in joint escort duties in the Malacca Straits using the excuse of checking piracy and terrorism to justify this action.
The Indian Navy ship INS Sharda was pressed into service to escort American commercial vehicles carrying "high value" goods through the strait. It was intended to be an exercise to literally test the waters with the Indians beating a retreat following strong objections from the neighbouring countries. But the idea has not been given up with external affairs minister Natwar Singh more recently reiterating the offer to provide security in the Malacca Straits at an Asean regional forum meet in Jakarta last year. \r\nHe said it was in India\'s national interest to ensure that the strait remained a crime-free sea lane. There were no takers although the Indian Navy is very keen to expand its area of operation and join the US to flex some of its visible muscle on the high seas.
The Indian Navy ship INS Sharda was pressed into service to escort American commercial vehicles carrying "high value" goods through the strait. It was intended to be an exercise to literally test the waters with the Indians beating a retreat following strong objections from the neighbouring countries. But the idea has not been given up with external affairs minister Natwar Singh more recently reiterating the offer to provide security in the Malacca Straits at an Asean regional forum meet in Jakarta last year. He said it was in India's national interest to ensure that the strait remained a crime-free sea lane. There were no takers although the Indian Navy is very keen to expand its area of operation and join the US to flex some of its visible muscle on the high seas.
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