KARACHI, June 1 Terming Gwadar a “totally commercial port”, Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Noman Bashir said that the navy needs to have a greater presence at the facility to secure its defences.

He said this while delivering a lecture at the Pakistan Institute of International Affairs here on Tuesday. The lecture was titled 'The navy's role in peacetime diplomacy emerging scenarios in the Indian Ocean'.

Admiral Bashir made the remark in reply to a question regarding Indian concerns over Gwadar. “I had deliberately skipped Gwadar. The navy gave the idea of a second port. We are totally dependent [on Karachi]. If the port gets knocked out everything comes to a grinding halt. But once the port came up there was no berth for the navy. It is a totally commercial port. We need some place to set up units for Gwadar's defence”.

As for why Gwadar was not commercially viable, the naval chief said that “we make a lot of good investments but let them go down the drain”. He urged the PIIA to study why Gwadar had failed to live up to expectations.

Earlier, Adm Bashir spoke at length about the navy's role in diplomacy as well as the current geo-strategic situation prevailing in the Indian Ocean. He said those powers that had realised the importance of the sea — such as the British, the Spanish and the Portuguese — had dominated large parts of the globe through colonialism.

He said that in the current situation, the trend had moved away from gunboat diplomacy to naval diplomacy, which was basically the use of sea power in the furtherance of national political objectives. Coming to the Indian Ocean, Admiral Bashir said the region was important for many reasons. Among them, he said, was the fact that the Indian Ocean linked the East with the West where trade was concerned.

He said there were numerous narrow “choke points” such as the Strait of Malacca and the Bab al-Mandab linking the Red Sea with the Arabian Sea in the Indian Ocean region, while the ocean also contained the “world's energy highway” as the bulk of the globe's oil and gas supplies flowed through the Gulf. “The importance of the Gulf will remain till alternative sources of energy are developed. I don't see that happening in the near future”. The naval chief added that according to certain theorists, in the 21st century the fate of the world will be decided on the waters of the Indian Ocean.

As for piracy, Adm Bashir said that though the issue had been largely resolved in the Strait of Malacca, piracy had increased around the Horn of Africa in the past four or five years. He said “anarchy in Somalia” was one of the main factors behind the rise in piracy. He added that there were also reports of the dumping of nuclear waste off Somali waters, while illegal fishing in the area had also destroyed Somali fishermen, who then turned to piracy.

Regarding maritime terror in the region, the admiral cited 2000's USS Cole bombing incident in the port of Aden. He observed that an attack on oil tankers operating in regional waters would be devastating. Adm Bashir pointed out that illegal activities such as drug smuggling and human smuggling in the Arabian Sea were also issues of concern.

Making a reference to “our easterly friend India”, the naval chief said that India was in the process of increasing its capacity manifold, including the formation of three aircraft carrier groups, a fleet of 100 warships and introducing nuclear submarines in Indian Navy. “They think the Indian Ocean is an Indian lake. But domination by one country is unacceptable. The Indians have proposed a joint naval task-force of [Indian Ocean] littoral states. Will it make headway? People may or may not agree”.

Adm Bashir said access to the sea was vital for Pakistan as nearly 100 per cent of the nation's oil supplies were received from the sea while the bulk of trade was also carried out through sea routes. He referred to Pakistan Navy as a “balanced, multi-dimensional force”. However, he said “Pakistan has a continental mind-set. Muslims have a continental mind-set. Perhaps if we had been a sea power the world would have been a different place. We don't realise what a blessing the sea is.”

The admiral took questions after his lecture. In response to a query about the possibility of a Mumbai-like terrorist strike from the sea against Karachi, he said this threat existed. “We need to guard against that. We must have coordination between the fisheries, the port, the Coast Guard [and other stakeholders]. A fusion cell is needed where organisations can exchange information.”

However, he added that none of the various stakeholders were willing to give up a part of their authority in this regard as “everybody is pretty happy in their capsules”.

About the Sino-Indian rivalry being played out in the Indian Ocean, the navy chief said that “it's between them. Why should we involve ourselves? But there is no question that China is a great friend of ours. This is not a cause of concern for us. China has every right to protect its trade [interests]”.

Regarding the Israeli assault on the aid flotilla, Adm Bashir termed it “a barbaric act. It is against international law. It should be condemned in very clear terms”.

In reply to another question about the expansion of Indian Navy, the admiral said that though it might be a cause for concern sometime down the line, “we need to set our own house in order before we think about the outside”.