NEW DELHI: There’s a new buzz across the vast stretch of water linking the west coast of India and the Arabian Gulf states. The buzz is about commerce with the India-UAE free trade area coming into force on May 1. Oman and India are beginning the feasibility study for a limited FTA even as Delhi pushes forward talks with the Gulf Cooperation Council on another FTA. And where commerce flows it’s only natural to look at security.
An Indian Navy training squadron is at the Saudi port of Jeddah for joint exercises. It follows on from the first India-Saudi joint naval exercise “Al-Mohed Al-Hind” held last year in August. The UAE also seems eager to test India’s maritime prowess. Joint bilateral naval exercises have become more frequent ever since New Delhi and Abu Dhabi elevated their ties to that of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) during Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s visit to India in January 2017 as the Republic Day chief guest.
Observers believe that such deepening defence ties will only strengthen India’s presence in areas where its crucial strategic interests are involved. “India has had to wake up to the fact that it has virtually no presence in the Red Sea which is unthinkable given that both the Suez Canal and the Bab-el-Mandeb are situated there,” said former ambassador Talmiz Ahmad. “In this regard, both Saudi Arabia and the UAE are ideal partners to have because both are now becoming particularly active in the region. The UAE has six ports, some in the Horn of Africa and some in Yemen, while Saudi Arabia through its long coastline is a valuable partner for India.”
The growing defence proximity between India and the Gulf nations – in particular Saudi Arabia, UAE and Oman – is something that has happened recently. Earlier, the Gulf nations viewed India’s terrorism challenges through the Kashmir lens, and it was not until 2008 when the Mumbai attack happened that a shift in attitude took place. Saudi Arabia began to realise that both countries shared common concerns regarding terrorism and extremism, and it was thus in 2010 that the ‘Riyadh Declaration’ laid out the Strategic Partnership.
This declaration followed up by Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the UAE in 2015, the first by an Indian prime minister in 34 years, and his subsequent visit to Palestine, UAE and Oman in 2018 that one began to see a change of thinking about the region. However, West Asia watchers stated that the move forward has been slow. The Gulf region was and is dominated security-wise by the US that has deployed Pakistani pilots and Pakistani instructors several hundred of whom still remain stationed in the Gulf. On New Delhi’s side, there has been a reluctance to move forward, as developing military ties with one Gulf nation could often mean alienating another.
“India has operated on a very low level in the Gulf for a number of reasons. Firstly, due to our geographic location, we unlike other nations do not require military bases or any significant presence in the Gulf. Secondly, we have found that our presence in the region made others uncomfortable,” Ahmad noted, pointing out that “there was an Indian naval presence in Oman in the 1970s and 1980s which used to make the British uncomfortable as they wanted the monopoly of the country. So even when Oman reached out to us for military parts the British resisted it. Thirdly, we also found that any active military presence would only happen under the ambit of the US.”
The situation however has started changing. The Mumbai attack, the declining US interest in the region and the new Vision Documents of the various Gulf countries looking to attain self-sufficiency in the defence field is now providing India with an opportunity. Analysts believe India can supply non-lethal hardware such as electronics and communications equipment along with military software. Through this it can further build up trust and enhance its role as a “diplomatic peacekeeper” in the region, a role that could help undercut the influence of other nations such as China who is attempting to make inroads into the Gulf through mass investment BRI projects.
Delhi must also start looking for like-minded partners to establish a long-term security strategy for the region. France and the UAE come to mind here as they have common synergies. While India is well placed in the IOR, Seychelles and Mauritius, France holds the islands of Reunion and the Comoros while also having naval bases in Djibouti and Abu Dhabi. The UAE not only has six strategic ports but also controls Perim and Socotra Island. Located at the mouth of the Gulf of Aden, these islands allow the monitoring of a significant amount of international shipping traffic in the region.
Observers believe that a possible trilateral between these countries could certainly be to mutual advantage and be a sizable presence in the Western Indian Ocean. “We already have important synergies with France while France is heavily invested in the UAE’s defence sector and India and the UAE enjoy strong diplomatic ties. Through sharing technology and synergising defence cooperation we can ensure our strategic interests are met not just in the Gulf but over a much larger region. India should be looking towards this,” says Ahmad.
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