Editor's Foreword

Chapter Seven
South and Central Asia
SOUTH ASIA
India
The 26–28 November 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai
jolted the Indian security establishment and raised
tensions sharply with Pakistan. A total of 163 people
(including 22 foreign nationals) were killed by ten
terrorists. While nine of the terrorists also died, one
of them, Ajmal Amir Kasab, a Pakistani national
belonging to the Lashkar-e-Tayiba (LeT) terrorist
organisation, was captured by Indian security forces
and was put on trial in Mumbai in April 2009. India
initially blamed ‘elements in Pakistan’ for the attack;
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stated in
January 2009 that the attack had the ‘support of some
official agencies in Pakistan’. Subsequently, a senior
Indian official accused Pakistan’s Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI) of complicity in the Mumbai attack.
Neither country mobilised its military forces, though
both put them on alert, and there was speculation
that India might strike LeT targets. Pakistan belatedly
admitted that Kasab was a Pakistani national and the
attacks were partly planned in Pakistan, but denied
accusations of official involvement in the attacks.
Security restructuring
Due largely to the Mumbai attacks, India’s 2009/10
defence budget (excluding pensions), passed in July,
was increased by a third to Rs1,417bn (US$32 billion).
Of this, US$8.5bn was allocated for the acquisition of
major armaments, though the total sum seemed likely
to reach US$50bn over the next five or six years. India
has been spending additional funds on the modernisation
and expansion of its seven paramilitary forces,
including establishing 38 new battalions (about 39,000
security personnel) in the Central Reserve Police
Force (CRPF) and on the acquisition of arms and
equipment for its police forces, while fast-tracking
arms and equipment for its commandos and special
forces. The navy has set up a new specialised force, the
Sagar Prahari Bal, to protect naval assets and bases,
comprising 1,000 personnel and 80 fast interception
craft. The force is currently undergoing training.
A major overhaul of India’s coastal and maritime
security was set in motion following the revelation
that the Mumbai terrorists had reached the city by
sea. On 28 February, Defence Minister A.K. Antony
announced that the navy was to be designated the
main authority responsible for maritime security, both
coastal and offshore, in close coordination with the
coastguard, the state marine police and other central/
state government and port authorities. Meanwhile,
the coastguard is to be responsible for overall coordination
between central and state agencies in all
matters relating to coastal security, with the director
general coastguard to be designated the commander
of a newly constituted coastal command. Four joint
operation centres were established in May–September
2009 to improve navy–coastguard coordination, with
existing naval commanders-in-chief designated
commanders-in-chief of coastal defence.
The coastguard and marine police are also being
strengthened and expanded and a coastal security
network created. A new coastguard regional
headquarters was established at Gandhinagar in
Gujarat in September 2009 to enhance surveillance
of the coastal state. (A new squadron with Dornier
maritime-surveillance aircraft was activated at
Porbandar in Gujarat in June 2009.) Nine new coastguard
stations were to be set up and integrated
with coastal police stations, of which 64 have been
newly established, along with 25 new checkpoints
out of a planned 97. Nationally, the coastguard was
to acquire additional ships, aircraft and helicopters,
as well as a revamped intelligence structure, while
a chain of 46 radars was also being established on
the coast and island territories, to include sensors
to identify vessels near the coast. But the precise
roles and functions of the navy commanders-inchief,
designated as commanders-in-chief of coastal
defence, remain unclear in relation to the coastguard
chief, designated Commander, Coastal Command.
It also remains to be seen how effective navy and
coastguard coordination with state administrative
and police forces will be in a coastal command, if
and when it is established.
Service developments
India sees a modernised and capable navy as
supporting its realignment of strategic focus to fit its
South and
Central Asia