Andaman and Nicobar Islands: A security challenge for India (continued from....3....) The Challenges The placid waters of the Andaman Sea belie the 24×7 threat perception that churns these waters literally on a daily basis. A war in the conventional sense might be a remote possibility, but that does not mean that the Indian Armed Forces do not prepare for any eventuality. Threat perceptions take into account a battle for the control of these waters. While on the one hand, the Island territories make for an extremely useful Indian listening post for the larger IOR, the distance of these islands from the mainland, represents their biggest insecurity, making them vulnerable to conventional and non-conventional threats. There is no reason to believe that forces inimical to Indian interests and sovereignty do not have designs on these Islands, to spy on them and the many sensitive installations they house. In August 2011, a Chinese vessel camouflaged as a fishing trawler was spotted by the Indian Navy just off the Andaman Islands. Indian authorities concluded that the mysterious visitor was on a spy mission and was most likely being commanded by personnel of the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA’s) intelligence units. Grave uncertainties surrounding China’s maritime intentions in the Indian Ocean have prompted a singularly focused effort on the part of India to beef up forces deployed in defence of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The strategic location of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands has to do with more than just sovereignty. The Indian Navy’s endless watch is not just about protecting territories. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands straddle the busiest trade routes in the world and the onus of keeping them safe and sanitised, is one of the chief responsibilities of the Indian Navy. But the irony of the situation is that international waters around these territories have to be kept safe in coordination with navies of other nations, including China’s, an undoubted maritime adversary. Considering just how much energy security matters to both India and China, securing the sea lanes of communication is a fierce struggle, one where confrontation is always just a whisker away. The passage of billions of dollars worth of trade does not discount the threat of piracy in the Bay of Bengal and the adjoining straits, one that the Indian Navy has become all too familiar with, in the Arabian Sea. Andaman and Nicobar Islands face greater challenges to their internal security through non-conventional threats such as illegal migration from littoral states of the Bay of Bengal, poaching of marine and forest resources, arms and narcotics smuggling through uninhabited islands and natural disasters. In recent years, several such attempts and instances have created a sense of insecurity in the area. These externally sponsored security threats have now for long raised serious issues both in terms of determinable losses to life and property and non-quantifiable losses to national will and drain on scarce economic resources. (to be continued....4....)
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 06:41:11 +0000
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