Bharat Rakshak

MALE, Maldives (RNS) Despite its small population (about 400,000 residents) and small size (about twice as large as Washington, D.C.), this overwhelmingly Muslim nation is claiming success in rehabilitating hard-core Islamic terrorists.

The string of more than 1,100 islands off India's southern tip is now offering to export its success to nations seeking to combat extremism.

Skeptics, meanwhile, say the program is built on Saudi Arabia's strict Wahhabi version of Islam, which some critics say actually foments extremism; 15 of the 19 hijackers in the 9/11 attackers were Saudi citizens.

The rehabilitation effort is sponsored by the country's Ministry of Islamic Affairs. Minister Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari says there's hope in the Quran for Muslims who have "gone astray."

The opposition, however, doesn't buy the rosy success story. Abdulla Yameen, the former president's half-brother and leader of the People's Alliance opposition party, alleges that Wahhabism is growing under the current government and the government has little control over what forms of Islam are preached in the country.

Bari is a leader of the Adhaalath (Justice) Party, an ally of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party, which supports the rehab efforts.

"We do not believe fundamentalism is dealt with by the heavy-handedness shown by the previous regime," said MDP chairperson Mariya Ahmed Didi.

DUBAI: India is actively considering building a 2,000-km-long deepwater transnational gas pipeline from Oman for transporting natural gas sourced from Turkmenistan, Iran and Qatar, a leading industry official has said.

The proposed sub-sea pipeline will meet the additional gas requirement of the UAE, Oman and India, besides easing gas transportation issues of producing countries like Turkmenistan, Iran and Qatar, Subodh Kumar Jain, Director of South Asia Gas Enterprise (SAGE), told Times of Oman.

SAGE, a joint venture between the Siddhomal group, UK-based Deep Water Technology and an Indian firm, is a special project vehicle for building the 2000-km long-sub-sea pipeline.

"We are trying to create an energy corridor. It is a grand scheme of several pipelines. It will connect energy producing countries like Iran, Turkmenistan, Qatar, and will pass through the UAE and Oman, all the way to India," Jain told the newspaper.

As per the plan, the pipeline will originate from Oman and will end either in Gujarat or Maharashtra.

For the gas to be routed to Oman from Qatar, Iran and Turkmenistan, additional pipelines will be needed.

Gas sourced through this will carry an additional transportation tariff, which will accrue to SAGE.

India imports around 26mscmd of LNG. The country is short on natural gas. It needs around 180mscmd, while the supply is 106mscmd.

Jain said the main sub-sea pipeline between Oman and India will cost between $3 to 4 billion.

"We are now discussing with Iran, Turkmenistan and Qatar for sourcing gas for the proposed pipeline. That is the biggest challenge. Besides, there are a lot of geopolitical and security issues involved," Jain said.

After ensuring gas, it will take five years to completed the project. The pipeline will be designed and built by an international consortium.

Demand for gas in India will continue to exceed supply from domestic sources and imported gas will play an important role in bridging the demand-supply gap in the Indian market.

This proposed India-Oman deepwater natural gas pipeline represents a potential major shift in the connectivity networks linking Central Asia to South Asia. Once laid, pipelines help determine geopolitical realities for decades, as a glance at the legacy impact of Soviet-Russian pipelines on Central Asian politics reveals. If the Gulf serves as an effective workaround to bypass the Afghanistan-Pakistan transit route, it would dramatically reduce the strategic logic of stabilizing the Af-Pak region. The fact that Iran is involved in this deal as a source country is also a major plus, as it applies additional commercial constraints on Tehran to keep the Gulf open and stable.

Ironically, Iran's participation in the IPI (Iran-Pakistan-India) pipeline route would have further reinforced widely shared interests in a stabilized Afghanistan. But the Pakistan-India rivalry proved even stronger than the U.S.-Iran enmity toward scotching that deal. This strikes me as an even better alternative, because it doesn't come attached with the need to maintain a dodgy and unreliable strategic partnership with Pakistan. And though the U.S.-Iran relationship moving forward is far from a cakewalk (see this Marc Lynch post that deserves all the attention it's gotten), I think Washington and Tehran have a better chance of reaching a modus vivendi than New Delhi and Islamabad do.

^^^If and when the India-Oman undersea pipeline thing actually comes to pass bypassing Papistan, expect Taliban-Al qaeda combine to scrumptiously and mysteriously develop naval and submarine capabilities all of a sudden.

Oh, there'll be multiple confirmations of identity - with Al zawahiri's recorded taps broadsided via Al jazeera and khanate op-eds screeching a "blame al keeda only" tune.

Then of course, TSPA will ask for naval and submarine technology to take on the new al qeeda navy threat only. The cycle will continue.

^


RajeshA-ji, you are getting carried on... When did India punished a terrorist ( non-state actor) outside its borders?

To underpin our rights and capabilities in the Indian Ocean, an article on the Indian Navy.

Published on September 20th, 2010
By Cmde (retd) Ranjit B. Rai
India’s Navy is transforming to become a C4ISR nuclear force in the Indian Ocean: Frontier India

A very detailed article.

3. How does Chandrayaan mission validate theoretical anti-satellite capability?

The control of Pakistani-administered Kashmir will give China a strategic land access to the Gulf through Pakistan. As Harrison points out, "It takes 16 to 25 days for Chinese tankers to reach the Gulf. When high-speed rail and road links through Gilgit-Baltistan are completed, China will be able to transport cargo from Eastern China to the new Chinese-built Pakistani naval bases at Gwadar, Pasni and Ormara, just east of the Gulf, within 48 hours."

Chinese People's Liberation Army soldiers also are constructing 22 tunnels in secret locations in Pakistan. One obvious use of these tunnels is for the projected gas pipeline from Iran to China, but they also can be used for missile storage sites in Pakistan.

Can we creat our String of Pearls - running through Indonesia, Vietnam, Taiwan all the way to Fiji. Fiji, in particular, seems to be off our strategic radar, but a golden opportunity. It has a very large population of ethnic Indians (near 50% at one time, now down to about 38%). Hindi is widely spoken. The current ruler, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, while being criticized by the west for trampling on democracy, is supposedly very pro-Indian in outlook...

MALE, September 28 (HNS) – China has become the highest contributor to the tourist arrivals to the Maldives for the first time with 15.3 percent of the total arrivals.

According to Tourism Ministry statistics, China beats UK and Italy with 77,644 tourists visiting the Maldives from January to August – a 137 percent increase to the 32,709 in the first eight months of last year.

While Chinese tourists visiting the Maldives increased by 142 percent to 14,998 in August, China topped the list in July 2010, with 12,449 tourists.

UK is now on the second with 14.9 percent as 75,250 tourists came from the country over the past eight months. Tourist arrivals from Italy stayed at 12.6 percent with 63,950.

The statistics reveal a 22 percent increase compared to last year’s, as 506,179 tourists visited in the past 8 months. A 27 percent increase was observed last month with 66,315 tourists.

While tourists used 68.9 percent of the registered 23,401 beds in resorts, hotels, and safari, the occupancy rate increased from 71.9 percent to 75.5. Tourists stayed 7.7 days on average compared to last year’s 8.1.

The government promoted Maldives tourism in China. Senior officials of the industry, however, expressed dissatisfaction over the decrease of tourist arrivals from Europe

The Maldives' ambassador to China, Ahmed Latheef, said he welcomes investment from China on resorts to boost development of local tourism and is calling for more attention to be directed toward the country's battle against climate change.

"The Maldives and China have enjoyed excellent bilateral relations, and there are many areas that can be developed through Chinese involvement and engagement in the Maldives," Latheef said in an interview with the Global Times. "We would welcome initiatives from Chinese investors in the development of tourist resorts."

China's National Day holiday is drawing near, and it is expected that many Chinese will go to the Maldives. Statistics show that 41,511 Chinese tourists visited the Maldives in 2008, an increase of 15.4 percent over 2007.

Chinese tourist arrivals in the Maldives have surpassed all expectations of the industry in recent years, according to Latheef. "At present, China is the second from the top after the UK," he said. "It is very likely that before the end of the year, China will top the list."

"The difficulty we have at the moment is that we do not have enough hotels or beds to cater to the growing market in China. Therefore, efforts are being made to develop new hotels and tourist resorts," Latheef added.

Latheef said that since the Maldives started developing its tourism industry in the early 1970s, it has been aware of the need to find a balance between development and environmental protection.

"To develop sustainable tourism, environment protection is a key element," he said. "We have very strict rules, regulations and obligations that are seriously followed by all stakeholders. Stringent policies on environmental protection are in place, and they are closely followed and monitored."

However, Latheef said climate change and global warming are threatening the country's marine environment and bio diversification that attract millions of visitors every year.

"In the Maldives we are already seeing the effects of climate change and global warming," he said, noting that "the unprecedented changes in weather patterns" have led to serious beach erosion and the death of sea coral.

The average height of the Maldives islands is less than two meters above sea level, and some islands are barely one meter above sea level. "The rise of sea level will be catastrophic and could lead to the displacement of the entire population and submerge the whole country," Latheef warned.

The Maldives has embarked on an ambitious plan to become carbon neutral by the year 2020. But Latheef said that as a small developing country, the Maldives needs more help to address this global challenge.

"We have wind throughout the year, but we do not have the turbines that turn the wind into energy," Latheef commented. "We have waves all around our tiny islands, but we do not have the motors to turn them into energy either."

Latheef said although the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Change Conference did not live up to the expectations of the international community, he is looking forward to the Cancun Summit on climate change that is going to be held in Mexico in November.

India should fear that the Hambantota port constructed by a Chinese consortium could become the southern anchor of its ‘String of Pearls’ around India. The refurbishment of Colombo harbour has also been bagged by China. Sri Lanka has drawn capital from India’s strategic silence over its pivotal military assistance in defeating the Tigers. This has helped Colombo to “look beyond Delhi” and openly acknowledge China’s key role in winning the war. Like Mr Pushpa Kamal Dahal in Nepal, Mr Rajapaksa has a grand vision of reducing dependence on India,courtesy China. Clearly New Delhi has lost the strategic plot in Sri Lanka. The outright defeat of the LTTE has diminished its influence in Colombo.

Former National Security Adviser MK Narayanan had warned Colombo in 2008 that it should not seek weapons from Pakistan and China when India was the pre-eminent power. It turns out that last week Sri Lanka’s most powerful Defence Secretary and brother of the President, Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa, was in China, underwriting the Defence Cooperation Agreement with PLA Chief of General Staff Chen Bingde.

It should have been payback time for Sri Lanka. Instead Colombo has subtly introduced the China card, complimenting the traditional Pakistan linkage to balance India. With China burrowing deep into Nepal in the north, it is repeating the exercise in the south. India’s optimistic claims of “decisive influence without direct involvement in Sri Lanka” are no longer valid. Mrs Indira Gandhi’s ‘Monroe Doctrine’ has been superceded by ‘Mahinda Chinthan’.

Published on Sep 26, 2010
By Wang Zhaokun
Maldives woos Chinese investors: Global Times


You are now entering Maldivian Autonomous Region of People's Republic of China!

NEW DELHI - India will help the Republic of Maldives build a maritime surveillance system, among other defense-cooperative measures agreed to during the Aug. 20-22 visit of India Defence Minister A.K. Antony to the Indian Ocean island nation.

The system's radars will be linked to the Indian Navy and Coastal Guard headquarters, a senior Indian Navy official said.

India is also likely to give Maldives two Coast Guard helicopters in coming months, the Navy official said.
<snip>
Maldives has an India-First policy, says Vijay Sakhuja, a director at the Indian Council of World Affairs here.

"Maldives has emphatically denied that there are Chinese naval facilities on any of its island territories and assured [us] that it has no plans [to allow any] in the future. Instead, it seeks an exclusive security arrangement with India and does not wish to approach regional and extraregional powers for such agreements," said Sakhuja.

Analysts said Maldives needs help securing its littorals from piracy, terrorism, contraband trade, drug smuggling and human smuggling by local and foreign actors.

"There is a need not just for Indian interests, but also [for] overall global interests, given the large quantum of trade passing through this region, which is likely to grow exponentially once the present financial crisis recedes. Unless these sea lanes are secured, there would be many more Somalia-like situations happening in the region," said Bhonsle. "I would not view it as an Indian security net but a global trade security net for which other South Asian countries of Sri Lanka and Maldives and those on the East African coast would remain critical. This global trade safety net through the Indian Ocean will be led by India, given the strategic location and large naval presence."

New Delhi, Oct. 5 (ANI): External Affairs Minister S M Krishna is likely to inaugurate two Indian consulates in Hambantota and Jaffna during his four-day visit to Sri Lanka in the last week of October.

The opening of the consulate office in Hambantota is significant in the wake of the Chinese having already established a strategic presence there through the construction of a harbour. The proposed Indian consulate will cover activities in the districts of Galle, Matara, Hambantota and Moneragala.

India has maintained that the Chinese-aided Hambantota project, which opens in November, does not pose any security threat. However, there are concerns in New Delhi over the rising Chinese influence in Sri Lanka.

India has only one consulate in Kandy and the opening of consulates in Jaffna and Hambantotta is an attempt to reach out and spread its sphere of influence to counterweigh China, according to analysts.

Sections of India's strategic community believes Hambantota is part of a Chinese policy to throw a "string of pearls" geographical circle of influence around India and is aimed at counterbalancing and undermining India's natural influence in Sri Lanka.

The port project, which will give alternate access to Chinese goods through the Indian Ocean, was earlier offered to India according to Lankan officials.

China is also developing port facilities in Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan, and has plans for constructing railway projects in Nepal.

China is pumping nearly six billion dollars in the form of grants and funding of projects in Sri Lanka.

To check Beijing's rising influence, New Delhi has also accelerated its aid programme and has offered concessionary credit facilities amounting to about 800 million dollars for the railway projects in Sri Lanka.

The proposed consulate in Jaffna will cover the five districts of the war-ravaged northern province - Jaffna, Killinochchi, Mullaithivu, Vavuniya and Mannar.

The consulate will help rehabilitate and streamline the humanitarian assistance to the displaced Tamils.

India had pledged to build 50,000 houses in the northern and eastern provinces, the Jaffna Cultural Center, the Jaffna Teaching Hospital and the Duraiappah Stadium.

During his expected visit, Krishna will reportedly review progress of Indian-aided projects and is likely to reassure New Delhi's commitment to rebuilding infrastructure in the war-ravaged nation.

He is also expected to call on Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Viewing Indian Ocean as India's "soft belly", Mumbai attacks Mohamed Nasheed has said it is posing increasingly "serious" concern as highlighted by the Mumbai attacks and favoured a framework agreement with India to take care of security and other issues. He sought to allay concerns here that

Maldives could be used as a route to attack India although he acknowledged that some nationals of his country were getting terror training in Pakistan and some other countries.

"Terrorism issue is apolitical. We have to get a good grip on it," Nasheed said in an interview while talking about the menace which is a cause of concern for the region and beyond.

"Security issues in Indian Ocean have lately been getting more and more serious...I mean we see the Mumbai attack also as an Indian ocean issue," he said.

Noting that "India's soft belly is through Indian Ocean" and no government in Delhi would be comfortable with it being exposed, he said Maldives and India are undertaking coordinated patrolling of the maritime areas.

"We have an understanding with India in patrolling... it is happening," he said, adding India had also lent a helicopter for aerial surveillance of the Indian Ocean region.

Nasheed, who was here on a three-day visit during which he met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, however, favoured a framework agreement with India to take care of all issues encompassing relations between the two countries.

"Maldives and India have several agreements but it would be better if the two countries can have one comprehensive pact to deal with all security and other issues," the 43-year-old President said in the interview parts of which were issued earlier this week.

India needs to acquire the IOR islands - buy, cajole to sell or give up, or at the minimum share in control and possession of those now used as "bases".

India needs to acquire the IOR islands - buy, cajole to sell or give up, or at the minimum share in control and possession of those now used as "bases".

NAIROBI (Xinhua) -- The Kenyan government has applauded the visit of the Chinese navy hospital ship Peace Ark.

Addressing the press conference in his office the deputy Provincial Commissioner (PC) Joseph Satia has said the exercise will enable people get access to medical treatment.

The ship set sail from Zhejiang province in east China on Aug. 31, for visits to Djibouti, Kenya, Tanzania, the Seychelles and Bangladesh, and providing medical treatment for locals.

Peace Ark is the first hospital ship in the world with a 10,000- ton capacity.

China independently developed and built it.

It has 428 soldiers, officers and medical workers aboard.

The ship will arrive at Kenya’s coast on October 13.

The Chinese ambassador to Kenya, as well as representatives from the Kenyan Navy are expected to meet the ship and her crew.

Yes - Oman is crucial for us, isn't it? Where we can never really have anything useful. To a certain extent I am coming around to the feeling of "internal development onlee". Thats the way to go - atta boy! we should try hard to convince others seriously about this - at least that they should believe that we seriously believe this.

According to sources privy to the talks, the idea is to let Indian corporates develop hotels and resorts and upgrade the existing airstrip into an airport. The land could also be used for agriculture and other strategic purposes by India.

When was the last time any country purchased land from any other entity? The famous ones I can think of are Alaska and the Louisiana Purchase in North America. India could attempt at something like that no? Maybe Chittagong?

Sweet sweet sweet. Very unsinkable looking, those long airstrip like islands!! Fit for landing a 737 or its other derivatives.....

Separately, looks like Mauritius is slipping off our happy zone and if this deal is done, the cutoff is going to be even more stark. Wonder if the panda dropped in to peddle some white powder to our Creole brothers?

Maybe Khulna might be a better idea. It seems like the district with the largest minority and is also the closest to indian borders. The Mongla port could be developed.