In what is being seen as one of the biggest projections of Indian naval power since India defeated Pakistan in the 1971 war, an Indian warship has sunk a pirate ship in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian navy is now looking at deploying more warships off Somalia.
In the Asia Times, former Indian diplomat M K Bhadrakumar writes of the possibility of a new Great Game unfolding for control of the sea route in the Indian Ocean.
Pakistan has historical reasons to be sensitive about this new development. It lost control of Bangladesh in 1971, in part because the Indian navy was able to prevent it from shipping supplies and men to what was then East Pakistan. And it has traditionally been sensitive whenever India has shown signs of flexing its muscles in the broader region — its anxiety about growing Indian influence in Afghanistan being a case in point.
But this time there seems to have been very little reaction in Pakistan, whose navy is also involved in anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden.
India is looking to play a leading role in bringing together countries from the Indian Ocean region to work together to fight piracy, according to this story in the Times of India, working through the so-called Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS). “The IONS includes countries as diverse as Oman, Mozambique, Yemen and Egypt to Australia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar,” the newspaper says. “If some countries can provide warships and aircraft, others can chip in with ports and refuelling facilities in the fight against pirates,” it quotes a senior official as saying.
That to me raises an intriguing question. Would Pakistan, which for so long has seen India as a regional bully, now be willing to accept Indian regional leadership in combating problems such as piracy, from which both countries suffer? And what would that mean for future relations between the two countries?
As underlined in this U.S. intelligence study released this week, the global context has changed drastically since the days when Pakistan sought to maintain military parity with India. The National Intelligence Council analysis “Global Trends 2025″ sees China and India joining the United States atop a multipolar world and competing for influence. (see full pdf document here).
Pakistan gets short shrift, presented primarily as a problem rather than the global player it sought to become when it matched India’s nuclear weapons programme with its own. “The future of Pakistan is a wildcard in considering the trajectory of neighbouring Afghanistan,” it says. Then in a rather chilling line introduced without further explanation, it says “if Pakistan is unable to hold together until 2025, a broader coalescence of Pashtun tribes is likely to emerge and act together to erase the Durand Line (dividing Pakistan and Afghanistan), maximising Pashtun space at the expense of Punjabis in Pakistan and Tajiks and others in Afghanistan.”
When intelligence experts in your supposed ally raise questions about whether your country can hold together, maybe falling under the regional leadership of your supposed enemy does not look so bad? But then again, and to return to the “Great Game” unfolding in the Indian Ocean, the intelligence report also examines the risk of a naval arms race unfolding between India and China as both seek to protect vital energy supplies.
Choosing your friends in a multipolar world is going to become increasingly tricky. For Pakistan, it may turn out to be a matter of survival. Which way is it going to turn? Pakistan’s reaction to India’s role in combatting piracy in the Indian Ocean may provide important clues.
(Reuters photo: Turkish frigate escorts ship carrying aid to Somalia/Ho New
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you guys out to blame each other on the political diversity or talking about navy might either the talibans,fidyaeens and the corrupt politicians in pakistan throughout the same nook or corner the suffering is only paid by common persons.Same is the scenario in the viscinity for the indians the dead root politicians, Laskhre toiba singing the swan song of Kashmir on the name of prophet and killing innocent which prophet will receive to the hell of killing innocent live either it is the bomb blast in Mariot hotel in Karachi and the killing of the people in Taj. By using nuke and the byproducts of western people to destroy the calmness of this subcontinent and by merely mudslinging no one will be benefited .My dear counterparts either pakistani or indian create the world as harmonious as europe so that the western will sing the song of our expertise either it is the natural beauty of swat valley in pak and the flourishing tea garden in darjelling .Let peace prevail that is Gita and Quran??else everything lies on you
- Posted by ArunHi to all dear Indians, Pakistanis and other world Citizen,
There are 2 ways to grow in life:
1. Cut your opponent down…relatively you will be bigger…but then how many individuals, states, countries can we pull down….
2..THE BETTER WAY…is to grow ourselves bigger than anyone else and then help others to grow….need to believe in kindness humanity and world welfare…
After reading the thoughts on this website, I feel sorry for the forefothers of Undivided India….they fought not for Hindus or muslims, they fought for humanity…
friends, please don’t bring disgrace to them by getting in to a futile arguement…It wont help….Lets focus of world / humanity’s welfare
Cheers,
- Posted by World CitizenWorld Citizen
I think India should just go ahead and takeover Pakistan and carry out the unification India once and for all.
- Posted by Jamestoday pakistan is facing a lot of problem,mainly terrorism.who is behind these terrorists activity.i will say that”"expandind india,US in afghanistan,ties between india and afghanistan Gov ,,,, and then talking about Pakistan as a failed stat, all is clear that(India and US) they are involved.Remember the fire in my house will go to my neighbour.this fire will burn all the south asia ,AND IF WE ARE BURNING AND ALL HELP IN BURNING WE WILL BURN THE WHOLE WORLD. India must understand that we are a islamic nuclear power.Pakistan is strong enough to fight the whole world.PAKISTAN ZINDA BAD
- Posted by dr ishfaqBilal Mian,
I think you need to get educated! OOPS you have to beg for that! Your ignorance is your bliss! But I guess, You must have atleast 3rd grade education, to be able to write on this blog. Obviously, you cannot spell. So we the readers forgive you.
Your stats (oops statistics - for Bilal’s eyes only) and your knowledge are skewed. I cannot blame you too, your are product of your environment i.e. All I am reading is”Gandians your gands ” etc. Thats seems to be your only focus, I guess because your behind is so sore? By your sole inablity to learn and educate yourself!
Your Ghost!
PS: some words may be too complicated get them explained from Musharaf!
http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2 008/02/15/669690.aspx
- Posted by Bilal's ghostMy indian friends, stop cheering and grow up as size is never gonna be the distinguishing factor or proving one’s superiority. Had this been the case, the lion would have naver occupied the throne in the presence of a bulky elephant. Just think it over!!
Shayan
- Posted by ShayanDear All,
I think Pakistan has its own set of problems which need more immediate attention rather than focussing on trivial issues at the global level.
To the world, Pakistan is perceived as a country full of terrorists and fidayeens. To an extent, this is not incorrect as most of the terrorist and fidayeen attacks worldwide seem to have a Pakisatan connection and the fact cannot be ignored that Pakistan is a breeding ground for such elements. So, I think that Pak should invest more time and resources in resolving these issues and weeding out such elements from its soil and not shift its focus to resolve Somalian piracy which other countries can easily take care of.
- Posted by MaulikDear Indian friends
What happened? I have not heard from u since long. Have u gone quite after the news that INS Tabbar has infact sunk a Thai fishing trawler considering it as a mother ship? Looking for comments on the professionalism of Indian ship.
- Posted by KhalidDear Sridhar
Thanks for replying and raising certain questions.
You questioned the authoritativeness of William Darlymple. Then you are doubting his credibility by saying him as one the many so called experts, having not studied India. Lets discuss this first.
1. William Darlymple has following award winning books related to India (Reference: http://www.williamdalrymple.uk.com/Pages /Biog.html):
a. In 1989 Dalrymple moved to Delhi where he lived for six years researching his second book, “City of Djinns”, which won the 1994 Thomas Cook Travel Book Award.
b. A collection of his writings about India, “The Age of Kali”, won the French Prix D’Astrolabe in 2005.
c. “White Mughals” was published in 2003, the book won the Wolfson Prize for History 2003, the Scottish Book of the Year Prize, and was shortlisted for the PEN History Award, the Kiryama Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.
d. In 2007, “The Last Moghal” won the prestigous Duff Cooper Prize for History and Biography. In November 2007, William received an Honourary Doctorate of Letters, Honoris Causa, from the University of Lucknow University “for his outstanding contribution in literature and history”, and in March 2008 won the James Todd Memorial Prize from the Maharana of Udaipur.
2. International news channel BBC World telecast a six-part series, Indian Journeys, in 2002. The series embarks on an exploratory journey across the spiritual heartland of India with renowned author “William Dalrymple” as he delves deep into the Indian spiritual psyche and explores what lies at its core. An inspiring kaleidoscope of Indian images, religions and regions, Indian Journeys won the Grierson Award for Best Documentary Series at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) in 2002. (Reference: http://www.indiantelevision.com/headline s/y2k2/aug/aug107.htm)
3. In an interview when he was asked, “ What made you choose Delhi partly as ‘home’? His reply was “Because I have always liked it here; it is matter of personal choice and as writer one can really live anywhere. And one is aware that one of the ironies of globalization being that most good Indian writers in English have chosen not to live in India”. (Reference http://www.cerebration.org/dalrymple.htm l)
Now, don’t accept what I say about him and just ask urself about the expertness of a historian who lived in India for many years, considers Delhi as partly home, wrote 4 award wining India related books and produced 6 episodes Indian documentary.
I didn’t give u my observation as u have given about India
I didn’t give u the observations of Indian journalists as u have given me about Pakistani journalists.
Ur both observations may have more authority than “William Dalrymple” for u but not for me or any other person having some academic background.
Instead I gave u the reference of a person
who is not Pakistani or Indian,
who is historian (who works on research methodology) and not a journalist (who writes any thing just to fill the columns of paper to earn his livelihood),
who is not a anchor person at TV channel, who daily come with something to just cover the time to get their channel running.
Who has more affection towards India.
If a person of such a high credibility is not acceptable to u then please do let me know that which type of authority would u like?
One of the remark which ur country men give is that Indians have stopped looking towards Pakistan and their aims are much higher. I don’t have any problem with that. Every nation has the right to rise. But my question is that if u look much higher then plz stop comparing Pakistan with India because when u ppl do so u are unintentionally giving importance to us.
You say that “Nobody says India is perfect”. I request u get a third person read comments of ur fellow countrymen and ask him. I am quite hopeful that he has got the impression that India has progressed towards excellence.
In my last comments I agreed about the problems of Pakistan. I didn’t deny but my request to u guys is this that plz stop portraying exaggerated picture of India which commenced right from BJP’s media projection campaigns of “India Shining” and “Incredible India”. I don’t have doubt that India has progressed swiftly but I invite u to do ur own research about Pakistan and don’t be carried away with the ideas of ur so called journalists and TV current affairs anchors. Hopefully this way u will refrain from giving misleading comments.
- Posted by Khalidtalking about the indian navy they can keep there toy boys in somalia lol keep shooting thai fisherman boats and claiming them to be pirates ha ha read the news you indian cowards
- Posted by Bilal KashmiriTalking about begging bowl the world has always shown indian children on the cover of oxfam without there parents are indian men and women that obscured with there anti pakistani life mission that they forget to feed there kids oxfam save the children are all flat out feeding the billion plus tramps of india so grow up gandians (means ass in punjabi) and feed your kids not your military budget
- Posted by Bilal Kashmiricomments made by gandoos from india are very funny
there obsession with muslim pakistan is getting annoying now when will they learn no matter how many terrorists you fund in pakistan and now matter how many afghans you pay to attack pakistan pakistan will never break so keep your bollywood scripts tucked under a statue of krishna and keep praying for that day to come may i suggest you feed your population with food and not propaganda now so atleast your status as a superpower in poverty can be reduced to great power in poverty 
- Posted by Bilal KashmiriComments made by most Pakisatanis are very amusing
When will Pakis find another reason to live for except “defeating Hindu India” ? Do ordinary Indians care about Pakisatan as these Paki posters do? No. They don’t. So why so much obsession with India ?
India has its functioning secular democracy, trillion dollar economy, IT, automotive, space, medicine, tourist, media,outsourcing industries. What has Pakisatan to show in comparison? Gunships attacking people who claim to fight for Islam in a country which was founded on basis of Islam? 45 years of military rule? Running with a begging bowl all over the world?
Grow up Pakis.
Sorry if you guys find Paki word insulting. Many people (foreigners) use this word as an abusive term in UK, US etc.But I don’t think it should be like that
- Posted by JaidevSo, Khalid mian,
- Posted by sridharWilliam Darlymple is an authority?
He, like many so called experts, has not studies India well.
Nobody says India is perfect. We are talking of the potential.
It is estimated that Pakistan, even with the begging bowl, will grow by 2.5% or so in 2009 while India is likely to show a GDP growth of 7-8%.
For the huge mass of humanity, this may not immediately mean much but things are changing slowly.There is a lot more money to spend even by average indians. I was amazed to see the confidence in the middle class indians when i visited India from US recently. There is a lot of hope that future will bring better things.
OTOH, Pakistanis i am told (by your own journalists)live with little hope for the future. Much of this is to do with the way that country was governed.
Pakistan never was a free nation, always ruled (directly or indirectly) by military dictators. Result is: there are no institutions in Pak worth the name. Add to that the terrorism, a nuclear state at the brink of economic disaster, u get the picture of a nation waiting to explode.
Sridhar
(USA)
To my Indian friends i.e Vijay, Deepak and FRK
Since last six decades Indian politicians, media and intelligentsia seems to be acting part of an age long campaign to demonize Pakistan, a failed state plagued with terrorism and at the verge of a collapse. At the same time, theses elements are quick to remind how India in all these years has risen as the world’s largest secular democracy, where people of all castes, religions, color and creed co exist in harmony. Of course it all sounds very remarkable. But if truth is to be told, this impression of Incredible India couldn’t be more erroneous. Let me quote William Dalrymple’s a respected British historian renowned for his expertise in Sub Continent history. His latest book. , The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty, Delhi 1857, has been awarded the Duff Cooper prize for history. On 14 Aug 2007, he writes in GUARDIAN, under the heading “The ‘poor’ neighbour” (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/au g/14/pakistan.india1)
William Dalrymple, notes, “In the world’s media, never has the contrast between the two countries appeared so stark: one is widely perceived as the next great superpower; the other written off as a failed state” ….He further adds, “On the ground, of course, the reality is different and first-time visitors to Pakistan are almost always surprised by the country’s visible prosperity. There is far less poverty on show in Pakistan than in India, fewer beggars, and much less desperation. In many ways the infrastructure of Pakistan is much more advanced: there are better roads and airports, and more reliable electricity. Middle-class Pakistani houses are often bigger and better appointed than their equivalents in India. Moreover, the Pakistani economy is undergoing a construction and consumer boom similar to India’s, with growth rates of 7%, and what is currently the fastest-rising stock market in Asia”.
I agree that all is not good in Pakistan. There are lot of issues. You ppl are also having issues. Although, the nature of problems of the both countries is different. We need to accept it and try best to build our respective countries to the best of our abilities.
- Posted by Khalid