It would be clearly evident to this august audience that maritime security needs in contemporary times have become vastly complex and demand innovative methods of addressal. Current threats to maritime security do not recognise political boundaries, and there is obviously a limit to what a state can do to counter maritime threats individually. The fundamental message is therefore clear to the world community, - we need to cooperate with each other to promote and enhance maritime security. India is more than ready and capable to cooperate in collaborative efforts aimed at combating illegal activities at sea and for maintaining the safety and security of sea borne trade.

IOR
Having said that, let me sail you straight away from the Mediterranean & the Black Sea to the Indian Ocean. Over a century ago, Admiral Mahan had predicted, that “Whoever controls the Indian Ocean will dominate Asia, the destiny of the world would be decided on its waters”. A brief focus on some salient facets of the Indian Ocean Region, would highlight why this area is not only important to the littoral, but also to all of you sitting in this hall.

• The Indian Ocean accounts for the transportation of the highest tonnage of goods in the world, with almost 100,000 ships transiting its expanse annually. It has various choke points, such as the Straits of Malacca, Lombok and Sunda in the East, and Strait of Hormuz, Suez Canal, Red Sea in the West. The Strait of Hormuz is by far the world’s most important oil choke point. An estimated 15.5 million barrels of oil flow through it each day. Also unlike all other straits in the world, which have an alternate route to ‘go around’ albeit at an extra cost, the Hormuz does not provide that option. Through the Malacca Strait, over 60,000 vessels and 10 million barrels of oil is transported.
• The IOR has abundance of its natural wealth, notwithstanding the fact that almost all of its 56 littoral and hinterland countries, are developing nations.
• IOR is the defacto home of global terrorism, with many regional states covertly or even inadvertently aiding and abetting the subversive elements. It is for this reason that most of the post Cold War conflicts have taken place on its waters, aimed at curbing the menace of global terrorism.
• Some of the worst hit areas, as far as the incidents of piracy are concerned, lie in the IOR, particularly Horn of Africa and Malacca Strait.
• Most of the contemporary armed conflicts, from Iran-Iraq War to Operation Iraqi Freedom, have all taken place in the IOR.
• IOR is the locus of 70% of the world’s natural disasters.
• However, other than a few countries in the IOR, like Australia, India, Singapore and Oman, remaining countries do not have the wherewithal to monitor their areas of interest with maritime assets or navies capable of ensuring maritime security in the area.

IOR & Global Maritime Security

Besides these natural and geographical factors, there are many other strategic and operational imperatives whuch make the IOR a critical consideration from global maritime security:

• Firstly Religious Fundamentalism. Middle East and Southeast Asian countries, are hotbeds of fundamentalism for a variety of reasons, which range from extreme poverty to traditional antipathy towards the western world. Many extremist organisations, including Al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Taliban are feeling constrained for space due the ongoing ‘war on terror’, and are likely to expand their activities to the maritime arena.
• Secondly, the Insulation of the American Homeland, has reduced the targeting options for these terrorist organisations and their full ire may be diverted against US and allied assets elsewhere The Madrid, London and recent terror attacks in Mumbai are a manifestation of this trend. The US and allied assets in the IOR are tempting targets.
• Next Energy, Despite the existence of land-based pipelines (from Russia and former Soviet states) to meet the energy demands, European countries, are still dependent on the import of energy and other commodities that transit over sea through the IOR.

India

Having dwelt on the indian Ocean, it would be logical to briefly focus on the country from which the ocean derives its name. India is a growing maritime power which is backed by the stability of a democratic political system and robust economic growth. Ensuring regional peace and stability, which in turn will foster maritime security in the region is therefore in India’s interest.
5. Peninsular India is the most prominent land mass of the Indian Ocean, protruding nearly 1100 nm into the sea. It provides India with the unique ability to ensure surveillance and influence events over a wide area of the ocean. Geography also places India astride all commercial routes and energy lifelines passing through the region, from the west to the east and vice versa, including the critical oil lifelines from the Persian Gulf. By virtue of its geography, India, is thus in a position to greatly influence the security of shipping along the SLOCs in the IOR.
Moreover, India’s growing trade, booming economy and investments in shipping and ports all imply that India has no option but to attach great importance to all aspects of maritime security in its region of influence. This will be further enabled as the Indian Navy continues to grow into a multifaceted and more capable force in the future.

Indian Navy

The Indian Navy attaches great importance to its peace time policing and diplomatic roles. It is one of the largest maritime forces in the region which is playing a crucial role in increasing maritime bonding by initiating numerous confidence building measures (CBMs) with regional and extra-regional navies. It has regularly undertaken operations in/off Maldives, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Mozambique, Indonesia, Mauritius, Seychelles. The relief operations undertaken by the Indian Navy, post 2004 Tsunami, have further cemented India’s role. Further, IN is developing, capabilities to inter-operate with all the leading navies of the world, who have a stake in the maritime security in the IOR and thus can be an effective ‘bridge’ between these navies and other smaller regional navies of the IOR.
The Indian Navy has been spearheading a multilateral cooperation initiative, designated MILAN, since the mid 1990s. MILAN involves a series of exercises and dialogues, with a large participation from the Bay of Bengal rim states, and is conducted every year off the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The exercise now includes navies from Myanmar, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, etc. The Indian Navy also undertakes regular coordinated patrols with the Navies of Indonesia, Thailand etc.
In addition, bilateral and multilateral exercises involving search-and-rescue drills, exchanges of information and intelligence, anti-submarine warfare, advanced mine countermeasures and anti-terrorism exercises have been held between regional navies from time to time. Bilateral goodwill visits to ASEAN countries, China, Japan and Australia are a regular feature and include extensive cooperation on training of personnel, hydrography, etc. Indian Navy is also in the process of working out modalities for sharing information to enhance knowledge of the maritime domain in our area of interest, so as to effectively support the comprehensive anti-terrorism activities.

Way Ahead

How do we in India see the way ahead? With the growth of globalisation, the inter-dependences have donned trans-regional needs, thus the regionalism now needs to be extrapolated into trans-regional initiatives for seamless maritime security. Thus, in order to enhance maritime security of a region from new order threats a multifaceted, multilayered and multi-pronged approach is essential wherein it enables the international community to reduce overall vulnerabilities.
It must be stated that ‘inadequate attention and resources have permitted maritime disorder to grow’. The first requirement therefore is for maritime states worldwide to recognise the seriousness and degree of the threat, and treat maritime security at par with other global threats. Awareness programs for the national polity and policy makers should be held and public awareness increased through seminars and workshops. Defence diplomacy initiatives of various countries (such as the Sea Power symposia) could also be harnessed to ensure greater awareness. The International Maritime Organisation can help shape world opinion.
In the field, better surveillance and policing is the key. International and regional mechanisms need to be evolved so that operational information essential for ensuring maritime security is shared amongst the littoral states that straddle the international SLOCs. We all know that all portions of the oceans cannot be kept under continuous surveillance. On the operational end, resources are lacking and considerable investments are required to improve surveillance and policing capabilities close to the land (at least covering areas under EEZ). Investments in technology and mechanisms to share surveillance data and intelligence, through exploitation of the information technology are desirable. Developed nations need to support initiatives both financially and technologically in creation of maritime resource databases and enable sharing of technology and building of assets or capabilities.
Next to surveillance, networking is clearly the need of the hour. The success of any operations/ initiatives require a matching information grid in the IOR, which seeks to share knowledge of developing threats in the adjacent area of IOR. Similarly, any regional initiative in the IOR would not be fully operational, unless it has its institutionalised linkages with Black Sea and Mediterranean initiatives. The rising threats to the maritime security from non-state actors, indulging in piracy and maritime terrorism, can only be addressed through pooling of resources by the various affected countries. IOR countries lack the requisite tools and technology for enhancing that can be made to bear upon the efforts for enhancing maritime security. The countries in the adjacent areas, like Black Sea and Mediterranean have capabilities in enhancing Maritime Domain Awareness, sharing intelligence and assigning assets, which if shared with IOR littorals could go a long way in ensuring security for the global seafaring community.
As far as shipping is concerned, more diplomatic and economic pressure needs to be placed on notorious ‘flag states of convenience’ to tighten and standardise registration laws and ensure adequate background checks are undertaken on vessels for which individual applications are being made. Technological inputs in form of tracking devices, e-tagging, CCTV/ night vision cameras, bridge data recorders (black box), non lethal weapons and automated responses should be looked at more seriously. The IMO initiatives for enhancing maritime security, namely ISPS Code and LRIT Regulations, could prove to effective measures if adopted and supported by the international community.
The over-arching requirement for ensuring the efficacy of the above measures would require seamless inter-operability between trans-regional navies. Thus the need for the advanced navies to engage all the other littoral navies, in joint exercises, operational support and technological transfers, that would eventually lead to enhanced security and prove to be beneficial for ensuring order at sea.

Conclusion

In conclusion, It is apparent that in order to overcome the menace of maritime disorder the entire domain will have to be looked at as a complete global mechanism and not as individual regional frameworks. Long term control and containment can only come from international cooperation with trans-regional linkages in intelligence, surveillance network, data sharing backed by a robust and effective system of patrolling. This would allow state authorities or navies to police the seas more efficiently.
Recent regional agreements between ASEAN and IOR countries are showing the power of such cooperation, by mounting coordinated patrols and pooling intelligence is a step for the good of the region and has the potential to reduce the threat. Such cooperation needs to be nurtured and could be extended to all maritime nations and further consolidated.
Finally, choices have to be made at this stage, by the international community and local decision makers, extra-regional flag states, the shipping industry and international bodies. Either we will see foresight and cooperate on a regional and trans-regional basis, adapt our structures to the challenges posed by the threat posed to global security in the maritime domain or our efforts will remain disjointed and dysfunctional. The proverbial ‘weakest link in the chain’ therefore becomes the measure of effectiveness in our ability to handle the threats to maritime security.
The Indian Navy is capable of fulfilling its obligations for ensuring the security in the SLOCs that are within its area of influence. Through its extensive maritime cooperation initiatives, and by virtue of operating/ exercising with most large navies of the world, and the other regional navies, Indian Navy has developed the capability to inter-operate with most of them and is ideally suited to be an active partner in the global efforts to enhance maritime security.