By Colonel Awadhesh Kumar, Special Forces Veteran
When the Indian National Flag had fluttered for the first time on Indian territory free from the British Rule, the place was not on the main Indian Sub Continent but on India’s Andaman Islands located around 800 km towards East.
The Andamans and Nicobars group of islands were liberated by the Indian National Army raised by Subhas Chandra Bose during the Second World War. This was the only Indian territory to come under control of the Indian government under Subhas Chandra Bose, who was also the Commander In Chief of the Indian National Army. This Army had fought alongside the Japanese Army in Southeast Asia and forced back the British Army all the way to the borders of Nagaland. Within next few days Prime Minister Modi will be hoisting the historical flag at exactly the same place in Port Blair where Subhas Chandra Bose had performed the same ceremony on 30 December 1943.
On 30 December, Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit the Andamans, officially to mark the 75th anniversary of the hoisting of the Indian tricolour flag and the declaration of Port Blair as Free India. Though the provisional government established in 1943 was still located in Singapore and had the backing of Japan, Germany and Italy.
Just last month on 16 November one John Allen Chau, an American Christian missionary, full of misplaced sense of his own religion, illegally tried to land on one of the remote Islands called the North Sentinel Island, out of all the things to Spread his religious faith among the aboriginal Sentinelese tribesmen. No wonder he was killed in a hail of arrows fired by aboriginal Sentinelese tribesmen as he tried to land. Thus this remotest and most isolated islands in the Andaman archipelago, a no-go territory even for even Indian officials, was suddenly in news in the global media due to demise of this foolish man.
However seeing Andamans having a mighty geo-strategic importance even the Britisher initially had a fleeting desire to retain the Island group in 1947. Better sense prevailed and wisely they decided to vacate it, other wise the Indian Forces would have thrown them out sooner than later aka Goa style. It would have been the end of not only the Commonwealth as we know it today but probably would have led to ouster of UK from various places including the Security Council of the United Nations.
The Andamans, along with the nearby Nicobar Islands, forms an union territory of India. The last tip of this island group called Indra Point is less than 30 kms from Indonesia. It is also now home to what is India’s first Tri Service Command called the Andaman and Nicobar Command. The second tri service Command is the Strategic Forces Command. The Headquarters of A & N Command is located at Port Blair, the Capital of the islands group. This Command was established in 2001 to safeguard India’s strategic interests in the waters east of the Subcontinent. It coordinates the activities of the navy, army and air force as well as the coast guards in the eastern Indian Ocean.
The Andaman and Nicobar Command is commanded by a three-star officer ( FOC-In -C level) of the Indian Navy who comes under HQ IDS and reports directly to the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee in New Delhi. The Chief of Staff of the command is a two-star officer by rotation from Army or AirForce. Presently each component (sea, land, air) is commanded by a one-star officer.
The Naval Component is the largest component and is commanded by a Naval Commodore. Naval ships include missile corvettes, amphibious warfare vessels, landing crafts, offshore patrol vessels and fast attack crafts. INS Karmuk and INS Kulish, Kora-class corvettes and INS Saryu and INS Sumedha, two Saryu-class patrol vessels are the bigger ships based at Port Blair. In addition, four Bangaram-class patrol vessels, two Car Nicobar-class patrol vessels, one Trinkat-class patrol vessel, three Kumbhir-class tank landing ships, one Shardul-class tank landing ship, three Mk. III LCUs, five Mk. IV LCUs and few large patrol craft are also deployed under the naval component. Naval Air assets are deployed at INS Utkrosh,INS Baaz and NAS Shibpur. INS Jarawa and INS Kardip are the support base in PortBlair and Kamorta island.
The 108 Infantry Brigade of the Indian Army, comprising three battalions, is deployed at Birchgunj under the army component. A Territorial Army battalion is also deployed at Campbell Bay.
IAF has 15 FBSU, comprising 153 Squadron and 4 Maritime Element, are deployed at Port Blair. 37 Air Wing, comprising 122 squadron and 151 squadron, are deployed at AFS Car Nicobar. These form the Air Component. Long and medium range SAMs are also deployed.
The Andaman & Nicobar region of the Indian Coast Guard also falls under the purview of the command with Regional HQ and 745 air squadron at Port Blair, District HQ 9 at Diglipur and DHQ 10 at Campbell Bay.
The capability of A& N Command was on display when it took part in the effort to search Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The command contributed navy ships INS Saryu, INS Kesari and INS Kumbhir, and coast guard vessels ICGS Kanaklata Baruah, ICGS Bhikaji Cama and ICGS Sagar. For aerial maritime surveillance, the command dedicated two navy Boeing P-8I Neptunes, coast guard Dornier Do 228, and Indian Air Force C-130J Super Hercules from Port Blair, and navy Dornier Do 228 from Car Nicobar. The Commander-in-Chief Andaman and Nicobar Command was nominated as the Overall Force Commander of the Indian forces,which included air force Mil Mi-17, and navy Shivalik-class frigates INS Satpura and INS Sahyadri, and patrol vessel INS Batti Malv from the Eastern Naval Command.
The main bases are on the larger Andamans, while there is a naval air station on the Nicobars not far from the northern tip of Indonesia.These bases are rapidly becoming some of India’s most important military outposts. Andaman & Nicobar is nowadays referred as UNSINKABLE AIRCRAFT CARRIER. Slowly up gradation is taking place and ultimately the naval component is going to be equaling other Naval Commands with a Surface Flotilla,a Submarine Flotilla and eventually a Carrier Battle Group too. The IAF component will have at least two fighter wings, a transport Wing, a helicopter Wing, Recce& Surveillance assets and all other support groups. The Army Component too will be raised to divisional strength plus with all required combat support and Services elements including amphibious formations.
China is trying to expands its naval presence in the Indian Ocean and therefore the Andamans have now become a new maritime frontline in the increasingly pitched geopolitical rivalry.A&N Command monitors among other things the movements of Chinese submarines patrolling the entrance to the Malacca Strait shipping chokepoint while also eavesdropping on their radio traffic, according to sources familiar with the situation.
One thing is very clear that no matter what the Chinese do, they cannot bring in a Naval Force to match what the Indian Navy is capable of deploying in the Indian Ocean Region. After all it is India’s Ocean and now even the American Navy knows this fact.
In April 2016, the command conducted an amphibious exercise called ‘Jal Prahar’ to check readiness and to ensure functional integrity of all three services on the islands. Ships, aircraft and troops along with tanks from both the Eastern Naval Command and Andaman & Nicobar Command participated in the exercise. Defence of Andaman & Nicobar Islands Exercise (DANX-17) was conducted during 20–24 November 2017. Additional forces including Jaguar fighters, 50th Parachute Brigade, missile frigates and C-130 Hercules heavy lift aircraft also participated in the exercise. The purpose of the exercise was to practice the defence of the island chain and recapturing islands.
Today, Japanese and Indian are trying to become friends once again, as Modi has found a strategic partner in Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The two countries’ navies are also building a relationship to ensure that Indo Pacific Ocean is as safe a place as the Indian Ocean. Talks are already underway between India and Japan to upgrade various infrastructure on the strategically situated islands, in a project that has similarity to China’s infrastructure building initiative, the Belt and Road Initiative.
In fact the push for a new Indian military command on the Andamans onto the procrastinating Indians was first initiated in 1995 during a closed-door meeting in Washington between India’s then prime minister P V Narasimha Rao and then US president Bill Clinton. This was because the USA was already in a panic mode as they saw that that China was keen to establish a presence in the Indian Ocean. In fact the actual reason was to somehow get a basing rights for the US Navy on the A& N islands. However Rao was no fool and rightly he kept the Americans guessing because we were still not a nuclear power. India moved at its own pace without getting entangled in any Camp / Alliance mentality.
While speaking at a roundtable conference organized by the New Delhi-based think tank the National Maritime Foundation, the then US Navy chief Admiral Gary Roughead had said that American leaders at the highest level had declared Washington and New Delhi would be strategic partners throughout the 21st century: “I’m here to say that the United States Navy in particular is a committed friend to India for the long term.”
However,now the tables have been turned. It is the turn of the Americans to seek Indian Support. Japan is already way ahead in this regard, though the Australians are still looking a wee bit lost in this whole thing. With Donald Trump in the White House, America’s commitment and ability to keep afloat in the Indo Pacific may not be as firm as previously. That’s caused Tokyo to look increasingly to New Delhi for assistance. Canberra too must act fast.During an October visit to Tokyo, Modi and Abe concluded a range of agreements to strengthen military cooperation, including an “Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement,” or ACSA, which will grant the two sides’ armed forces reciprocal access to each other’s military bases and facilities.
It is obvious to most why China is trying to show its presence in the Indian Ocean region. It has legitimate interests: most of China’s foreign trade as well as its crucial oil imports pass through the IOR. In a similar manner India is expanding towards Pacific and will cooperate with Vietnam and Indonesia in the seas towards China.
Modi’s upcoming visit to Port Blair there is thus not only a symbolic gesture to honour Subhas Chandra Bose and India’s freedom in 1943 but will also mark more officially the beginning of a new strategic era to show that Japan and India are once again close partners.
