INDIA A SOFT STATE-DEALING WITH PIRACY

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INDIA A SOFT STATE-DEALING WITH PIRACY

In February 2006, On receiving media information that an Indian-owned and -manned dhow, MV Bhakti Sagar, flying the Indian flag, had been hijacked by Somali pirates, Naval Headquarters (NHQ) ordered the destroyer INS Mumbai, homeward bound from Oman, to alter course for Somalian waters. The intention was for the ship to position just outside Somali territorial waters and remain on station, since intense diplomatic activity was underway to negotiate the release of the Indian crew. Nautical wisdom said that a powerful warship, looming unseen over the horizon, could open any number of options; not all of them military. And best of all, if nothing worked out, she could just come home, still unheard and unseen.
While Mumbai was proceeding with all despatch, a heated debate raged in the cabinet secretary’s office about the advisability of sending a warship. At the end of these deliberations, the MEA sent a written note to NHQ posing a set of rhetorical questions, which came as a revelation about the diffidence and lack of resolve that prevails at policy-making levels. Agonising about how our African and Middle-Eastern neighbours would react to what was termed as “muscle-flexing” by the Indian navy, the note vividly illustrated why India has earned the sobriquet of a “soft state”.
The essence of the note was contained in one plaintive query: “Will we sail a destroyer every time an Indian national is in trouble anywhere?” The navy’s emphatic response — “Yes of course; if we have one available!” — went unheeded, and the warship had to be recalled. A few days later, the shipowner paid ransom to the pirates, and 21 Indian citizens came home, without the Indian state or its powerful navy having lifted a finger to protect them.[Indian Express]
Not much has changed for the better since. Piracy has since moved closer to the Indian shores. The Navy and the Coast Guard have conducted a few successful operations in the Arabian Sea against the pirates and nabbed some of them. This has deterred the pirates and no new piracy incidents close to the Indian shores have been reported in the last few weeks. But the difference in opinion between the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Navy is visibly manifested even today. Unlike the Navy which is acting strongly against the pirates, the MEA mandarins seem to be looking towards the United Nations to take the lead in solving the problem. (See this post: UN-easy idea)
It is is often said that more than any constraints of ideology or identity, India’s primary constraints on its foreign policy are of will and capacity. What is the point of aspiring to be a great power — and amassing the military, technological and economic means to be able to realise your objectives — if India doesn’t have the political will and capacity to secure its national interests?