THIS is with reference to the article ‘In the middle’ (Oct 9). While it is true that the Atlantic and Pacific oceans historically saw many wars, Indian Ocean, too, had its fair share. Wars here, however, usually began with trading activities.

India was once well known for its riches, like pepper, spices, tea, and such other stuff. This drew in great powers of the time and impelled commercial activities. Protection of merchandise at sea became indispensable. The navies stepped in. In the 20th and 21st centuries, the strategic importance of the Indian Ocean primarily resided in another commodity; oil.

On the western shores of the Indian Ocean sit countries with world’s largest known reserves of fossil fuels. The energy products that travel on the maritime highways thereon have consistently underpinned economic growth in wider Asia Pacific. The shift in economic centre of gravity from the Atlantic to Asia Pacific was raison d’etre behind the United States’ Asian pivot of 2012.

The Indian Ocean has seen Pakistan-India wars of 1965 and 1971, Iran-Iraq war from 1980 to 1988, Operation Desert Storm, a combined coalition operation of 34 nations, in January 1991, Operation Enduring Freedom in October 2001 and Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003.

The naval operations of Western nations against Somali pirates beginning in late 2008 have their own significance as piracy had paralysed global shipping in vast swathes of the Indian Ocean.

Because of their geographic location, the islands, especially along the western shores, have lately shot to politico-strategic prominence, sparking contest between world powers. These islands are ideally positioned to serve as naval and military outposts for monitoring and/or influencing sealines, besides providing flexibility of naval operations. The stakes are, therefore, high for all sides.

The most enduring and widely cited quotation on the Indian Ocean, especially related to scholars and the naval community in Asia, is attributed to famous American naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan. It reads: “Whoever controls the Indian Ocean will dominate Asia. This ocean is the key to the seven seas. In the 21st century the destiny of the world will be decided on its waters”. There is also a slightly different version of the said quote, which reads: “Whoever controls the Indian Ocean controls Asia. The ocean is the key to the seven seas.”

The quotation has almost as intriguing a history as has the Indian Ocean. Like navies around the world, Indian navy and the Indian strategic community, too, have drawn tremendous inspiration from this quote. China is not far behind as its analysts have often made use of this statement in old as well as recent works.

Ironically, however, it has been firmly concluded that this is a fake and completely fictional statement that has been wrongly attributed to Mahan. The quotation has no relevance to the maritime thinker or to his famous work, The Influence of Sea Power Upon History: 1660-1783. The authorities at the US Naval War College, New Port, Rhode Island, have verified to this writer that Mahan never said so.

The earliest reference to this imaginary Mahan quote appeared as English translation in an article in Atlas World Press Review magazine of November 1979. It was captioned, ‘Will the Indian Ocean become a Soviet Pond?’ The article was originally written by Italian journalist Guido Gerosa under the title La flotta sovietica presidia nuovi mari, and decoded from the Italian publication l’Europeo (Milan) of Aug 6, 1970. It subsequently found its way in Asian press.

Pakistan Navy formally discouraged the use of this quotation way back in 2013. But during a conference when attention of a scholar was drawn by this scribe after the former used the fake quote while presenting his paper, the reply was interesting: “When a fiction is used and propagated exten-sively, it becomes an accepted truth.”

Cdr (retd) Muhammad Azam Khan
Lahore

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2023