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Maritime scene in the Indian Ocean remains in a state of flux due to occasional tensions among the regional states. Conspicuous naval activity is indicative of the Ocean’s primacy among the other oceans of the world. ‘Strategic manoeuvring’ of the great powers, as claimed by The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies in its report ‘Maritime Future of the Indian Ocean (2010)’, coupled with rising maritime crimes, as reported by UNODC, in the Indian Ocean makes it the geostrategic centre of gravity. Pakistan has taken a full stock of the emerging maritime milieu and launched an initiative of ‘Regional Maritime Security Patrols’, better known as RMSP, in 2018. Main purpose of RMSP, as the sources suggest, would be to ensure safety and security of sea lanes from where majority of Pakistan and regional countries’ commerce passes through. RMSP, as the name suggests, could extend maritime security to other countries of the region.

Cognizant of the fluidity in its seas, Pakistan Navy , reportedly, deployed two ships, under its banner of RMSP, whilst leading the multinational task force CTF-150, to expand what may be termed as ‘maritime cooperative continuum’. At one end of the continuum is unilaterally independent deployment; while at the other is a principled multilateral engagement seeking maritime security for the Indian Ocean Region. Devoting more ships for RMSP is reflective of Pakistan navy’s seriousness and operational focus that governs its strategic choices in a region in need of a player on whose agenda tops the freedom of the seas. Despite the recent post-Pulwama crises, Pakistan navy remained undeviating in pursuance of its principal objective of preserving security in its immediate and extended maritime neighbourhoods. This article argues that the ‘maritime security continuum’ – embracing both CTF and RMSP – as appeared to have been adopted by Pakistan Navy is a concept that could be well suited to the regional setting’s juxtaposed threats that the Indian Ocean Region faces. There are three key reasons that make the continuum concept a consistent and enduring one: 1) recourse to region-centric mechanisms, 2) working with but reducing dependence on extra-regional players and 3) need for smaller navies to cooperate.

RMSP is a region-centric initiative that must aim to embrace the other regional maritime states under its flag. Angela Floristella notes in her work The ASEAN Regional Security Partnership (2015)’ that ‘regional initiatives have come to be seen as catalysts of change and stability in terms of peace, security and order’. Floristella opines that regional architectures are the best to resolve conflicts and strengthen security because of the comprehension of complexities that the region might have, as outsiders cannot read the regional environment fully thereby failing to array the security priorities that a region might require.

Regional cooperation, especially in the maritime domain, has not been a non-causal phenomenon. Emergence of several types of transnational threats compelled maritime nations to incentivize cooperation at sea, which led to creation of several multilateral cooperative maritime security constructs, e.g., US-led CMF, NATO-led ‘Sea Guardian’, Indian Ocean Rim Association etc. Geoffrey Till, in his book ‘The Changing Maritime Scene in Asia (2015)’, believes that Asia would see encouraging rise in naval and coast guard cooperation to improve maritime security in the region as he contends that “maritime Asia appears to be the scene of both continuity and substantial change”. One may rightly regard RMSP as a reflection of that change. As I noted in my piece ‘Regional Maritime Security Patrols: Pakistan Navy Preserving Freedom of the Seas’, published in the Maritime Study Forum on 4 February 2019, that maritime complexity necessitates `cooperation rather than competition’ among the littoral states. I argued there that the initiatives like RMSP must be calibrated to maintain, regionally, a threat-free environment so that economic, scientific and social activities at sea could continue unhindered. It may be termed as ‘extension of security’ from one’s own space to another across the Indian Ocean Region.

Until recently, outsiders, mostly the US and the Europeans, maintained a maritime order in seas that washed the shores of most of the Asian nations, especially, the South Asian ones. Toshi Yoshihara observes, in ‘Asia Looks Seaward: Power and Maritime Strategy (2008)’, pronounced focus towards maritime power, among the Asian nations, and he posits that “clustered fleets of navies are growing at fairly rapid rates”, and could unsettle the outsiders and assume larger role of maritime security at the regional level themselves. This could mean a higher probability of conflict but could also open significant prospects of cooperation whilst operating in proximity of the naval forces with extra-regional maritime powers. There is a greater likelihood that the interventions by extra-regional forces would not be welcome by the Asian maritime nations in future as these get stronger to assume broader charge of their security affairs by themselves. China, for instance, uses the term ‘counter intervention operations’ for its navy, to keep the intruding powers at bay.

https://nation.com.pk/28-Jun-2019/pakistan-navy-s-evolving-maritime-security-concept