In Aid Of Strategy

Why did New Delhi take this decision? The official position is that it was only to provide relief. But highly-placed sources in New Delhi and Colombo, speaking to Outlook, came on record about a suspicion gaining ground over a week: that the decision to deploy relief ships was hastened by reports of a possible large-scale US deployment in the region. Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar confirmed this to Outlook: "There were concerns in New Delhi about the US presence. I spoke to people in the Indian government and the high commission and assured them of the nature of the US deployment." He said the US Marines were from "a construction battalion, where no one is armed and they are carrying equipment which has heavy lift capabilities." The marines, the minister added, "would primarily help clear the debris and participate in the reconstruction work."

But New Delhi wasn’t taking chances over the Americans moving in first. Within hours of the request for aid from Sri Lankan prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, naval headquarters was prepared with a plan to deploy ships. INS Kirch and INS Ghorpad were dispatched with relief material with instruction to gauge the situation in the affected areas and return to pick more relief material from Chennai.

The first reports after the tsunami said USS Bonhomie and USS Rushmore, carrying 1,500 marines from the Expeditionary Strike Force headed by a brigadier general, were to move into the region. This did not materialise and the US deployment was a considerably scaled down one.

The Indian response was in tune with its stated policy of looking after its strategic interests in the Indian Ocean region. With the Indian Oil Corporation investing heavily in the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation in 2003, Sri Lanka has become that much more important. Indian investments have also been substantial in the China Bay Tank Farm, off the Sri Lankan coast, where Indian Oil maintains 17 tanks out of 99, each with a capacity of 12,000 kilolitres of crude. Put together, the tank farm has the ability to hold nearly six months fuel supply to Sri Lanka.

Nirupama Rao, India’s high commissioner to Sri Lanka, describes Operation Rainbow—the Indian navy’s relief effort —as a humanitarian mission. Says Rao: "Undoubtedly, India has strategic interests in its neighbourhood. Our response was spontaneous and our ability to ensure rapid and effective response in a natural disaster situation of immense proportions was amply demonstrated."

India’s response proved to be the quickest because of its proximity to Sri Lanka. In fact, an Indian navy Dornier carrying a medical team and 800 kg of supplies was the first international relief effort to reach Sri Lanka, landing at the Ratmalana air force base on December 26. Earlier in the day, naval headquarters activated its war room as senior officers chalked out a relief operations plan. While initial reports were sketchy, by afternoon the navy’s top brass was aware of the extent of damage in the Indian Ocean region. By then, Mahinda Rajpaksa had already placed a call to his Indian counterpart, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, appealing for aid.

Keeping in mind Indian sensibilities, the first US Marines were deployed on January 10, a good 15 days after the Indian deployment. As the first batch of US Marines were deployed on the Galle coastline coming off the USS Duluth, the Indian navy’s survey ship, the INS Survekshak, was redeployed on the sensitive Jaffna coastline and given the task of opening the port at Kankesanthurai.

Working the phones, then national security advisor J.N. Dixit—in what was perhaps his last footprint on India’s foreign policy—convinced the government to send Indian navy ships to Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Meanwhile, naval chief Admiral Arun Prakash and his deputy, Vice Admiral Sureesh Mehta, had already drawn up a blueprint for deploying naval ships and aircraft to provide aid.

Five ships moved towards Trincomalee and four ships to Galle, areas which bore the brunt of the tsunami. An 81-man army detachment, comprising doctors, engineers and personnel from a signals regiment, was also dispatched. "It was a decision taken in real time. The request for India’s assistance was expressed within hours of the disaster and we went into action immediately," Rao told Outlook.

This was the beginning of what is now termed as the largest Indian naval deployment ever, the biggest peacetime operation undertaken since Independence. Such was the magnitude of the operation that at one point it had 32 ships and 28 aircraft deployed across the Indian Ocean to provide aid to those affected. What caught international attention was the fact that India was stretching out a helping hand at a time when its own eastern coastline was also ravaged by the tsunami.

While appreciation has come in from the affected countries, the relief effort has helped establish India’s presence in the region. Keen to project itself in the Indian Ocean—an area India considers as its strategic backyard—the reach of the Indian navy has helped establish its credentials as a regional power.

Indian survey ships had earlier carried out hydrographic surveys at the Colombo, Trincomalee and Galle harbours and opened them for other ships to sail in. Beside patrolling the Palk Strait, India and Sri Lanka have acknowledged each other as strategic partners in the Indian Ocean region. Colombo offers the only refuelling berth for ships between the east coast of Africa and the strategic Malacca Straits through which 90 per cent of the world’s annual sea-borne trade by volume and 10.3 million barrels of oil pass.

For now, India’s quick response has been received with widespread backslapping. "The assistance rendered by India was remarkable," says Kadirgamar, who also acknowledges that the Indian response "amply demonstrates the reach and capability of the Indian navy." Adds Ketheshwaran Loganathan, director, peace & conflict analysis unit of the Centre for Policy Alternatives, Colombo: "The point remains that humanitarian interventions inevitably carry with them political, diplomatic and geopolitical interests."

Keeping its strategic interests in mind, New Delhi also announced a Rs 100-crore package to help Colombo rehabilitate and reconstruct its damaged infrastructure. Meanwhile, preparations are also on to sign an agreement that will institutionalise bilateral defence cooperation. India has supplied an off-shore patrol vessel to the Sri Lankan navy besides large quantities of small arms and ammunition in the present framework of cooperation. In the days to come, the mandarins in South Block can hope to build on the goodwill generated in the tsunami aftermath.