3 - Seas as Connecting Links: Salience of the Indian Ocean and Prospects for Maritime Co-operation

Summary

Within a span of a few minutes on the fateful morning of 26 December 2004, the tsunami waves dealt a deadly blow to hundreds of thousands of men, women and children, and the physical landscape across several countries. In this regional catastrophe that brought about unprecedented death and misery, the stark reality of the oneness of the vast Indian Ocean region, and especially Southeast and South Asia, was driven home. The element of human security in the populous countries surrounding the Indian Ocean came into a sharp focus. The international community's response to this tragedy was overwhelmingly spontaneous, sympathetic and supportive. The huge rehabilitation and reconstruction work in Aceh in Indonesia, the worst affected area, would continue for years. Other badly hit countries such as Sri Lanka, Thailand and India would also require massive reconstruction effort.

Since the time of the disaster, India has been continuously engaged in meeting the enormous challenge of reconstruction in Tamil Nadu and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, largely with its own resources even as it immediately sent ships to Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Indonesia and Thailand to assist these countries in relief work. In Sri Lanka and the Maldives, the Indian assistance was of critical value. The tragedy has shown how the destinies of the peoples of India and the neighbouring Southeast Asia are intertwined just as they had been for thousands of years in the past. It is no coincidence, therefore, that in India's present Look East policy, the maritime issues constitute a principal dimension.

The need for India to safeguard its defence and economic interests in the Indian Ocean region is based on many factors. India has a coastline of over 7,516 kilometres, an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of 2.172 million square kilometres, and a probable continental shelf, which is being demarcated, of more than 1 million square kilometres beyond the EEZ. To protect all these and the sea lanes of communication against pirates, terrorists, transnational crime and the spread of weapons of mass destruction call for a strategic view of the Indian Ocean as an area essential for its defence as well as development. Sardar K. M. Panikkar, a visionary Indian strategist, foresaw this way back in 1943.