StormBreaker
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When I started reading the article, and some points really sounded joke, I didn’t expect it be a dawn article until the last line arrived.IT is unfair to draw lessons from the fate of a bankrupt Egypt in the 19th century and relate it to today’s economically vibrant Gulf states. Nevertheless one can detect a beep on the radar. In 1875, Britain purchased Khedive Ismail’s shares of the Suez Canal Company to become the majority shareholder — it already had its own shares.
The khedive’s reckless modernisation drive had made Egypt go broke. The loans he had secured from European powers, especially Britain and France, enabled the two, especially the former, to interfere in Egypt’s internal matters and tighten their economic stranglehold. The number of Europeans working in Egypt had gone up phenomenally. They were ubiquitous and were resented by Egyptians, especially army officers.
In 1880, there was a row between an Egyptian donkey cart boy and a European, and this led to a riot which killed a large number of people, including Europeans. While France was reluctant to act for reasons which do not concern us here, Britain used the opportunity to occupy Egypt. Thus, the Arab world’s most important country was to remain under British control till 1952 when Gamal Abdel Nasser and Mohammad Neguib overthrew the Albanian dynasty. The reader need not be told the moral of the story: the economic control of a country by a foreign power invariably leads to the former’s enslavement.
Against this background, Pakistan must carefully watch the economic and geopolitical developments in Gulf sheikhdoms and be alert to overt and covert moves that may in the long run affect its security. The people of Pakistan have still not recovered from the shock received from some Arab countries’ reaction to India’s annexation of occupied Kashmir. Saudi Arabia was neutral, but the UAE felt no qualms about calling the Aug 5 annexation decree India’s ‘internal matter’.
It is doubtful if Gulf nations are aware of India’s naval ambitions.
Various interpretations have since then been given about why Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan’s government behaved the way it did. One explanation is obvious: trade between the Emirates and India is estimated at $100bn. To this must be added the crucial role Indian expatriates have played and will continue to do so in building the UAE economy and the extraordinary control they have come to exercise over business and finance in the sheikhdom.
The number of Indian nationals — nearly two million — constitutes 27pc of the Emirates’ population of 9.4m. Taken together, all Gulf states have an Indian population of 9m, and let’s be clear that in a given geopolitical turmoil this population could be an extraordinary asset to India to help New Delhi advance its interests.
K.M. Panikkar’s India and the Indian Ocean is a much-quoted book, for it gives a clear indication of what Indian strategists think of their country’s role in relation to Asia and the Middle East. The gist of the thesis is that India must step into British shoes and play the role Britain did in the geographical mass between Aden and Singapore. He argued that the Indian Ocean must “truly remain Indian”.
No wonder the ‘Persian Gulf’ finds repeated mention in the post-Panikkar era. Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee told a military conference in 2003 that India’s “strategic frontiers” had grown beyond South Asia and that India’s “security environment ranges from the Persian Gulf to Straits of Malacca”. Similarly, former Indian navy chief Arun Prakash said India’s “strategic relevance” ranges “from the Persian Gulf to the Strait of Malacca.”
It is doubtful if the Gulf nations are aware of India’s naval ambitions. For reasons of history and geography Arab nations (and Iran) look west and seldom bother about developments in the east. In their worldview, the Pakistan-India relationship is a minor issue — a nuisance — and does not deserve the attention we think it must. Twice this year, the UAE has stunned us. In February, it invited an Indian foreign minister to a conference of Islamic foreign ministers, and it termed the Aug 5 villainy India’s internal matter.
Read: Islamabad apprises OIC of reservation over invite to India
The Asian Arab world has virtually no navy, even though 80pc of oil shipping passes through the Gulf of Hormuz. Pakistan has a vital interest in this crucial sea lane, and it is exactly for this reason that Gwadar port is an eyesore for many governments hostile to Pakistan.
The situation calls for Pakistan’s greater collaboration with Gulf navies in a manner that pre-empts any attempt by non-Gulf powers to penetrate what undoubtedly is Pakistan’s underbelly. Let Islamabad keep its eyes and ears open so as not get caught again by surprise. Bases are not begged for; bases are extorted or imposed. The host country has no choice but to follow the diktat of the economic hegemon. It is a pity that it is Pakistan that has to suffer because of the Arab ignorance of South Asian history.
The writer is Dawn Readers’ Editor and author.
Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2019
https://www.dawn.com/news/1521454/indian-navy-gulf
What a Crazy, “unasked-for” write is this.
Some points i would like to argue based on my knowledge.
Against this background, Pakistan must carefully watch the economic and geopolitical developments in Gulf sheikhdoms and be alert to overt and covert moves that may in the long run affect its security. The people of Pakistan have still not recovered from the shock received from some Arab countries’ reaction to India’s annexation of occupied Kashmir. Saudi Arabia was neutral, but the UAE felt no qualms about calling the Aug 5 annexation decree India’s ‘internal matter’.
UAE is more of an independent sort of country in terms of Relationship circles since quite recently.
Previously, most of us used to hold the view that UAE is a small puppet of KSA, and yes, it was agreeable to much extent “Bara bhai Chota Bhai”, Going by this, UAE being a part of GCC had to cut off ties with Qatar which had affected it’s economy on multiple fronts. This did piss off Abu dhabi to some extent, not wanting to but still had to under the “Big Bhai”.
Similarly, yemen conflict also dragged UAE military into play, they had to march their, suffered losses of High and low ranking officers on field, equipment.
UAE, especially Dubai, they mostly don’t “WANT” to give a sh*t to conflicts as they are busy in managing a metropolitan city, heavy investment from foreign investors, millions of businesses owned by expats, they are happy with that. Their focus is on development of infrastructure and economy. KSA on the other hand is very backwards when it comes to infrastructure or development of economy. A pakistani visits KSA, gets amazed to see the place, roads, infrastructure. Once he visits UAE post visiting KSA, KSA seems like a village infront of UAE.
So getting on point, UAE plays on it’s interests related to economy and relations to the highest bidder. Pakistan as we speak, is not much of a need for UAE however, they have interests on India being a huge country with historical interests since centuries (Arabs used to visit mumbai for trade, marry local women). KSA plays “khud to doobo gay, dosray ko bhi sath...”.
KSA maintained silence because it has far more interests in Pakistan as Pakistan is an undeniable need for them. UAE can manage itself...
UAE has the highest share of Real estate investors from Pakistan, most of the Pakistanis in UAE conduct business based on their own hard cash that they bring along. Indians on the other hand, even though higher in proportion to others in owning businesses, but they are largely those who seek bank loans from UAE, conduct business for some months/years, and once they know that the next cheque will bounce, they run off midnight otherwise their names would be in ECL due to an Automatic Criminal Case registered once a cheque bounces in UAE. They evade loans, cause losses to local banks. Secondly, indians are very cheap labor, be it an engineer, doctor, post grad or doctorate, they sell themselves very low.
On a second Point i believe is quite STUPID.
Comparing India with British is like comparing A well stable company like Apple or Microsoft with a Shaky/unstable startup.
British had resources, strategic lands and advancement, modern tech but most importantly very clever planners and scientists. The reason British had expanded throughout the globe was due to monarchy.
India on the other hand, cannot handle small enemies like us since almost a century let alone advance into GCC. They have poor command and control, planning is sh*t, brains full of cat, living in their own created mind haven, “punching 18 people with a banana peel”. No matter what might india creates in their tri services in future in terms of tech and numbers, their obsession with Pakistan would always hinder their forward thinking into advancing on foreign grounds. Even Arabs can take care of them very well.
Dawn is regarding india far more Than they really are. STUPIDS.
As for a joint-Naval cooperation in Arabian Sea, it is a dream you and i might have that would never materialize thanks to KSA-Iran conflict.
@Mangus Ortus Novem
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