Strategic competition in the Indian Ocean

“The Indian Ocean area will be the true nexus of world powers and conflict in the coming years. It is here that the fight for democracy, energy independence and religious freedom will be lost or won.”
(Robert D. Kaplan)
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The Indian ocean once regarded as a ‘neglected ocean’ has, today, become the hub of political, strategic and economic activities because of the presence of conventional and nuclear vessels of the major powers in the area and because of its own economic and strategic significance. The Indian Ocean has 36 States around its littoral belt. In addition, there are eleven hinterland states e.g, Nepal and Afghanistan, which though landlocked, are keenly interested in the Indian Ocean politics and trade.

The ocean contains several important minerals: 80.7% of world extraction of gold, 56.6 % of Tin, 28.5 % of manganese, 25.2 % nickel and 77.3% natural rubber. Highest tonnage of the world goods, 65% of world oil, and 35% of the gas, located in the littoral states, passes through it. The region today is an arena of contemporary geopolitics. Strategically the Indian Ocean occupies a crucial importance, especially because of the presence of major powers in the region and potential of the regional powers, three being nuclear powered: Pakistan, China and India. 

That is why key regional powers are placing great reliance on the deployment of fleet missile submarines and SLBMs for second strike capability as well as for maintain balance of power in order to deter hegemony of any power whether territorial or extra-territorial. USA has established its naval base in the Indian Ocean at Diego Garcia which poses a threat to the regional states as well as stands to protect the US’ vital interests in the region. Political relations in and around the Indian Ocean can have significant implications for the US as far as its new “Asia Pivot” strategy is concerned. The new US Strategic Guidance 2012 has linked the US economy and security to developments in the Indian Ocean, elevating India to the position of a long-term strategic partner serving “as a regional anchor” in the region. The official documents also declare Iran and China as two potential states most susceptible to using asymmetrical means to counter US’ areas of interest. The Indo-US collusion in the Indian Ocean has made Pakistan and China wary of their semi-hostile overtures, hence ensuing strategic competition in the region and employment of resource-dependent strategies to counteract and counterbalance the enemy state’s maneuvers.

World is said to be entering Geo-energy era in which questions of energy security (security of demand and security of supply) will condition both inter-state relations and may lead to re-configuration of world power hierarchy. Energy security will play decisive role in creating conflict and co-operation situations.  

The Country which holds paramount position in the Indian Ocean is likely to control the flow of energy not only to the East Asia, the future center of the world economic power, but also to other regions. Currently, USA, the world’s mightiest naval power is dominating the region and the regional states, especially China, is trying to balance US power in the region in order to protect its interests with regard to its growing economy and energy needs. The question why it is so important to dominate the Indian Ocean can also be answered by highlighting the fact that oil is shipped from the Persian Gulf to almost entire world via the Indian Ocean, and through the Straits of Malacca to China, Korea, and Japan. If another [power] holds the lifeline, oil-importing countries will suffer severe blows. Because [the U.S.] strategy is to hold sway over the oil route, the US has in recent years showered attentions on India, Vietnam, and Singapore, all of which lie on that route. 

Pakistan’s only coastline is on the Indian Ocean, which is therefore a vital access point for trade and specifically for energy supply. Pakistan’s major interests in the Indian Ocean are preventing India from dominating the areas closest to Pakistan itself, and protecting its vital import and export routes. Pakistan by itself can do relatively little about India’s naval presence in the Indian Ocean; therefore, it has turned to two things: developing its naval power and having large external balancers. The United States is probably not looked on by Pakistan as a reliable partner in shoring up its Indian Ocean security, especially in light of the high profile of the Indian Ocean in the growing U.S. security dialogue with India. The more important balancer is China. Pakistan stands to benefit from the “string of pearls,” and has therefore handed over the operational rights to China. Pakistan’s economic stake in Indian Ocean security, like India’s, is considerable: its fragile balance of payments is dependent on sea trade; 95% of its trade and 100% of its oil import is transported through the Indian Ocean. As such Pakistan’s main goal is to neutralize India as well as secure its economic and Energy interests and at the moment it is doing in alliance with China and at the same time improving its Naval and military power.

As the Indian Ocean is a hub of energy, India is seeking to enhance its involvement in the region, seeking to increase its influence from the Plateau of Iran to the Gulf of Thailand. India is soon to become the world’s fourth-largest energy consumer, after the United States, China, and Japan -- is dependent on oil for roughly 33 percent of its energy needs, 65 percent of which it imports, and 90 percent of its oil imports could soon come from the Persian Gulf. Another reason behind developing naval power is India’s “Hormuz dilemma,” its dependence on imports passing through the strait, close to the shores of Pakistan’s Makran coast, where the Chinese are helping the Pakistanis develop deep-water ports. To protect its vital interest as well as to establish itself as a super-power, India is enlarging its navy in the same spirit. With its 155 warships, the Indian navy is already one of the world’s largest, and it expects to add three nuclear-powered submarines and three aircraft carriers to its arsenal by 2015, making India’s a Blue Water Navy. The critical objectives of India in establishing its navy are not economic and security but also “strategic autonomy” this policy is in harmony with Indian goal of achieving the super power status and it is in this context that we see India ever now and then opposing the presence of extra regional powers in the Indian Ocean. For India, presence of extra regional powers creates tension in the region which is detrimental to its sensitive interests, India wants to replace those powers and make it dominant in the region. 

Among the latest developments which Indian Navy has effected is the inauguration of the Indian Navy’s latest naval base - INS Dweeprakshak - in the Lakshadweep Islands under the Southern Naval Command on 1st of May 2102. It is meant to face Chinese ‘string of pearls’ strategy to cut-off India from the other nations of the Indian Ocean. We can gauge the extent of India’s anxiety to project itself as an emerging super power by looking at its spending in this aspect of power. India is planning to spend almost $45 billion over the next 20 years on 103 new warships, including destroyers and nuclear submarines. By comparison, China’s investment over the same period is projected to be around $25 billion for 135 vessels. Indeed, as India extends its influence east and west on land and at sea, it is bumping into China which is also concerned about protecting its interests throughout the region and is expanding its reach. The paramount concern animating Chinese interests in the Indian Ocean is energy security, an imperative that has been widely debated in media and academic studies. It is facing “Malacca Dilemma” (that is China’s too much dependence on this strait and conversely USA’s objective to control this strait politically to manipulate China’s energy needs.) It is no exaggeration to say that whoever controls the Strait of Malacca will also have a stranglehold on the energy route of China. Excessive reliance on this strait has brought an important potential threat to China’s energy security. The Straits of Malacca is without question a crucial sea route that will enable the United States to seize geopolitical superiority, restrict the rise of major powers, and control the flow of the world’s energy. The Chinese government hopes to eventually be able to partly bypass that strait by transporting oil and other energy products via roads and pipelines from ports on the Indian Ocean into the heart of China. 

The Chinese government has already adopted a “string of pearls” strategy for the Indian Ocean, which consists of setting up a series of ports in friendly countries along the ocean’s northern seaboard like, Gwadar, Pakistan, a port in Pasni, Pakistan, 75 miles east of Gwadar, which is to be joined to the Gwadar facility by a new highway; a fueling station on the southern coast of Sri Lanka; and a container facility with extensive naval and commercial access in Chittagong, Bangladesh. The Chinese government is also envisioning a canal across the Isthmus of Kra, in Thailand, to link the Indian Ocean to China’s Pacific coast -- a project on the scale of the Panama Canal and one that could further tip Asia’s balance of power in China’s favor by giving China’s burgeoning navy and commercial maritime fleet easy access to a vast oceanic continuum stretching all the way from East Africa to Japan and the Korean Peninsula. Besides this strategy, China is cultivating its relations with the countries of the region through aid, trade and defense agreements. One important factor pushing China to built alternative routes is the fact that Indian navy, soon to be the third largest in the world after those of the United States and China, will function as an antidote to Chinese military expansion.

PLA Navy has also been expanding itself and reconfiguring its role in view of changing circumstances and the growing importance of the Indian Ocean. The PLA Navy has progressively increased its maritime influence by transforming itself from a coastal defence navy to a force capable of sustained open-ocean operations, which is reasonably commensurate with China’s super-power status.

One of the biggest Challenges USA is facing in the world politics is in the Indian Ocean where both China and India are emerging as the major maritime and economic powers and posing challenge to USA’s many decades long hegemony. The task of the U.S. Navy will therefore be to quietly leverage the sea power of its closest allies -- India in the Indian Ocean and Japan in the western Pacific -- to set limits on China’s expansion. One of the major aims of USA is to reduce and slow down the increasing Chinese FDI in the regional countries and excite the areas of conflict. As it is obvious, USA is exciting regional states’ interests to obstruct China’s expansion in the South China Sea as well as in East China Sea to limit Chinese FDI and push countries away from Chinese Camp. USA does not want the region to be dominated by any single state because that would seriously jeopardize USA’s long term economic interests as well as disturb the balance of power in the region. 


This is specially in view of the shifting of economic center from the west to the east. If controlled by any [Asian] nation, key choke points in the Indian Ocean, including the Strait of Malacca, the Strait of Hormuz, and Bab el Mandeb, could tilt the balance of trade further towards Asia. Piracy in the Strait of Malacca demonstrates what can happen when free and secure access through a choke point cannot be ensured. But USA’s dilemma is that it cannot prevent or block supply to China and India since it would dampen world economy, but it can monopolize energy supply by controlling Central Asian states. Another Dilemma of USA is that it cannot altogether sideline Chinese Navy. USA seizes every opportunity to incorporate China’s navy into international alliances; as U.S.-Chinese understanding at sea is crucial for the stabilization of world politics in the twenty-first century. Nevertheless, to achieve objectives in the region, USA plays upon the India-china problem to its own advantage. It continues to engage India with itself as part of its strategy of encircling China. As a part of its strategy, it encourages India to establish relations with South-Eastern and Central Asian states. Its purpose is to contain Chinese influence. USA is also enhancing its naval presence in the region which is recognition of the fact that this region is gaining central position in world political affairs. It is in this context that the US’ “Asia pivot” strategic shift should be understood and analyzed.

 
Iran is the other emerging power of the Indian Ocean with control of the most crucial Strait of Hormuz, a transit passage which can potentially be the cause of triggering conflict in the region. As highlighted above, this transit route is responsible for the supply of oil to most of the world. Where control of this route is strategically significant for US, it is arguably a more crucial for Iran to hold its control over it and use it as a tool in extending its power as well as use it as leverage to bargain with USA and its allies over Iran’s nuclear issue. Whether or not Iran would choose to block the Strait is a moot question; however, it is obvious in many of Iran’s official statements that Iran does consider this option as practically viable as far as maintenance of deterrence is concerned. Responding to the onset of the European Union’s oil embargo with a defiant show of military strength and renewed threats to close the Strait of Hormuz, Iran signaled to the West that it would not be a passive victim of economic warfare. On the other hand, preserving the security in the Strait of Hormuz is a priority of Iran’s defensive deterrence strategy in the Persian Gulf. Iran’s policy there would certainly be a measured and rational one, based on taking full responsibility and taking into account the region’s geo-political realities, but in no way letting others jeopardizing its legitimate interests.

The discussion shows that Indian Ocean has assumed a central place in the strategies of the major powers of the world and the regional powers also. Like a microcosm of the world at large, the Indian Ocean region is developing into an area of both ferociously guarded sovereignty (with fast-growing economies and militaries) and astonishing interdependence (with its pipelines and land and sea routes). And for the first time since the Portuguese onslaught in the region in the early sixteenth century, the West’s power there is in decline, however subtly and relatively. Although USA is trying to give it a new boost and reconfiguring it, it might not be able to assert its dominant position in the region. The Indians and the Chinese are likely to enter into a dynamic great-power rivalry in these waters, with their economic interests as major trading partners locking them in an uncomfortable embrace; while Pakistan will continue to assert its position by establishing alliance with China and by building its own capacity, especially naval power.

In view of the circumstances and geo-political realities, USA will have to change its posture from that of dominance to a sort of indispensable relationship with the regional powers, including Iran and Pakistan. It may, in future, act as a ‘balancer’ between China and India. What is becoming obvious as things unfold is that no single state would be able to dominate the region singularly; therefore, a sort of multilateral set up will have to be established whereby each country can “equitably” pursue its goals.
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By Salman Rafi Sheikh

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Afghanistan's stability is the Pakistan"s survival

 Americans want constant chaos in Pakistan come what may for the last six decades. It’s due the fact that Americans want the area stretched between Bay of Bengal to Baltic Sea leading to Europe disconnected economically through anarchy in Pakistan. If the Americans don’t do it, they would ultimately lose the control over 3/4 of the world. Relaxation of trade between India and Iran and China and Iran in the US/UN sanctions on Iran is not without reason in this context. That’s exactly why President Asif Ali Zardari, who had foreseen this duplicity a long ago, had to move fast to get the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline started and completed by the exit of US-led NATO forces by the end of 2014 from Afghanistan. The President Asif Ali Zardari had already taken the regional powers into confidence in this regard and will work more on it. The president Zardari has to work most on TAPI gas pipeline project in which Afghanistan is the corridor as well. Pakistan’s economy has become precariously dependent on energy and the energy is the dire need of teeming poor Pakistanis at the moment.
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The pre-partition Pakistan is no different from the post-partition Pakistan as far as independence of its people is concerned. We won a territory, in 1947, from British and Hindu majority but not freedom. We, on the other hand, added internal colonizers after the external one.

Due to lack of resources, knowledge and industry, we had two choices. First, we could build ourselves socially, technologically and knowledge-wise by taking help of USSR. Second, we could keep pre-partition social and economic structures intact, and for day to day survival take financial help of USA, the emerged sole super power, after WWII.

Our indigenous tribal and feudal politicians and Muhajir leadership were never willing to share politics and power (democracy) with the poor people of Pakistan. Same was desired by the USA. So, our leadership chose the second option of USA to survive. For the first decade the leadership survived due to the bureaucracy and without any constitution of our own. Afterwards, army ruled the country with the help of civil bureaucracy for another decade. Hunger, homelessness, economic and social poverty and ignorance multiplied for common Punjabis, Pukhtoons, Sindhi, Balochs and Bengalis. These ethnicities would have been better off, had they been part of India where tribalism and feudalism was abolished and social democracy was the system of governance after independence.

Thus, we replaced British with Americans as external rulers and added civil-military bureaucracy as internal colonizers. Extreme poverty compelled the majority of people of East Pakistan, Bengalis, to win freedom from West Pakistan to form Bangladesh in 1971. To save the rest of Pakistan the ruling elite (civil-military bureaucracy and tribal/feudal lords) made the country’s first unanimous constitution in 1973. The constitution is the mixture of mutually exclusive systems: Islam, Socialism and democracy. The numeric strength of civil-military bureaucracy increased with the decrease in territory after the formation of Bangladesh. The involvement of Arabs was also increased in Punjab due to Islamic character of the constitution. USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan, 1979, increased the role of anti-communist Arabs and Americans more in our state and society for USA-backed Afghan Jehad.

Socially, we became more divided and poorer. Centuries old tribal moral clash, sectarianism, between Shia and Sunni surfaced due to the Sunni-Wahabi influence of Arabs. Economy went to the hands of mafias related to drugs, weapons and smuggling of other goods.

Military not only remained part of such economy but multiplied it forming cartels involving even basic industries related to sugar, wheat, cement etc. by the end of the rule of last military dictator Gen. Musharraf. Intermittent so-called democratic governments came and were sacked untimely in 1990’s but nothing changed for better as the governments had positions just, with power still rested with civil-military bureaucracy. 9/11 changed the world, so did the Pakistan. People got space for their power in governance. Gen. Musharraf failed to meet the interests of USA-led NATO forces engaged to eliminate Taliban from Afghanistan and bring stability there due to China and Russia’s pressures. So, Americans preferred democracy over dictatorship to meet its interests in Afghanistan. Elections of 2008 and NRO, after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, must be seen in this context. This is exactly where the Arabs and American interests diverged as far as Afghanistan is concerned. Arabs involvement depends on the post 2014 situation of Afghanistan when NATO and majority of American troops would have gone from there.

The Americans are going to stay for a long time in Afghanistan even after the NATO and majority of their troops leave by 2014. The first phase of their stay has been for bringing about stability and building institutions and infrastructure, and the second phase will be to expand their economic and strategic interests in the region. In this regard Americans have taken into confidence Russia, the Central Asian States, China, India and even Iran except Pakistan. Americans have assured them that no kind of terror will be supported or tolerated anymore in the region.

Americans want constant chaos in Pakistan come what may for the last six decades. It’s due the fact that Americans want the area stretched between Bay of Bengal to Baltic Sea leading to Europe disconnected economically through anarchy in Pakistan. If the Americans don’t do it, they would ultimately lose the control over 3/4 of the world. Relaxation of trade between India and Iran and China and Iran in the US/UN sanctions on Iran is not without reason in this context. That’s exactly why President Asif Ali Zardari, who had foreseen this duplicity a long ago, had to move fast to get the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline started and completed by the exit of US-led NATO forces by the end of 2014 from Afghanistan. The President Asif Ali Zardari had already taken the regional powers into confidence in this regard and will work more on it. The president Zardari has to work most on TAPI gas pipeline project in which Afghanistan is the corridor as well. Pakistan’s economy has become precariously dependent on energy and the energy is the dire need of teeming poor Pakistanis at the moment.

Pakistan and Iran can manage the required finance 7.5 billion US$ by bartering our rice with Iranian petroleum on which we spend more than 12 billion US$ annually. India is doing such with Iran already. Americans, in reaction, cannot give green signal to army to take over the country as Pakistan will not be united within a month and the regional fall out of that will never be tolerated by the regional powers- China, Russia and India. Americans cannot tolerate to lose their multi-billion US$ investment in Afghanistan. And this is what Americans know well and will not dare finance anymore military coup in Pakistan. Our devastating obsessions of ‘strategic depth’ instead of economic depth led us to extreme poverty, strategic death and extreme international isolation as no country likes to engage us economically except Iran which needs to sell its petroleum products to survive desperately, given the US backed UN sanctions.

The bureaucrats and generals with the help of judges have treated the teeming millions of poor Pakistanis in the absence of true politics and democracy pathetically. It’s pertinent to mention here that 85% of civil-military bureaucracy is Punjabi ethnically and they ruled 35 years directly and 25 years indirectly consuming almost all what poor people of Pakistan gave the state in the form of taxes. The required politics and political direction is now here very much here to go back never again. The upcoming general elections will be the decisive election between the democratic and dark forces of destruction. The people have always voted for politicians, not generals.

The futility of two referenda by Gen. Zia and Gen. Musharraf respectively are the enough of proof in our political history. The people, now, know that in these dictatorships the dark forces of destruction were developed and distributed within and without the country. 

The religious/sectarian politics of Arabs in Pakistan and American duplicity towards the development of Pakistan are over now.
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By Muhammad Shoaib Akif

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Sino-Russia Relations

The plane of China’s newly elected President Xi Jinping has touched doen in Moscow’s Vnukovo airport marking the beginning of his maiden trip overseas. The fact that the Chinese leader is visiting Russia so soon after assuming presidency is a testimony to the importance the Asian giant places on its relations with Russia.

Newly elected Chinese President Xi Jinping starts his visit to Russia, the first leg of his four-state visit since he became the new President earlier in March. During his state visit to Russia, Xi Jinping will announce the opening of the Chinese Tourism Year in Russia. He will also deliver a speech at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. 

Over the years, China-Russian relations have undergone robust development. Bilateral trade has amounted to 88 billion U.S. dollars in 2012, an 11.2-percent increase year-on-year. On the world stage, China and Russia have strengthened their strategic coordination facing intricate global and regional situations. President Xi Jinping's visit to Russia this time is expected to promote both countries' pragmatic cooperation in energy, trade and people-to-people exchanges.  

China has become Russia’s largest trade partner for the second year in a row. The two countries see a rise in investments and a boost of energy, regional and border cooperation.

So what is the focus of President Xi Jinping's visit to Russia this time? And how can China and Russia advance their already robust relationship? 



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The new world balance

At the dawn of the 21st century, Turkey has emerged as an important player in the region that can play a significant role in the resolution of conflicts. In almost all negotiations in the last five years, Turkey has played a major role.
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 By Abdul Quayyum Khan Kundi

At the dawn of the 21st century, the US was the undisputed global superpower with no apparent peer on the horizon who could challenge its interests in trade, diplomacy and military might. In the last decade, after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, when the US was engaged in its twin wars, aspiring new powers were slowly and gradually building their spheres of influence. China, Russia, Brazil, Turkey and India are the five emerging powers ready to take their place in world affairs.

China, throughout its history, has played a dominant role in South and Southeast Asia. Although China has competed with Japan for regional influence for over a thousand years, its one key distinguishing characteristic has been never to go beyond its seas. This has changed; for the first time in its history China may be extending its reach beyond the South China Sea. The Chinese have carefully chosen their expansion plans to include countries that are rich in mineral resources to satisfy the hunger of their vast manufacturing appetite. They have executed plans to have direct influence in Africa and Asia while they have formed a strategic alliance with Brazil and Turkey for an indirect influence in South America and Europe respectively. The first phase of their strategy was to use their vast cash resources to build a network of seaports in Asia and Africa. These ports are fully financed, built and operated by Chinese companies. The next phase in their development is just starting, which is to have trade and security pacts with these nations to ensure a smooth sailing of Chinese merchant ships from these ports. The recent naval influence exerted by the Chinese navy in the South China Sea is a message to the world to be aware of their activities in their backyard.

The US embarked on the strategy of expanding NATO during eight years of President George Bush to induct the former Soviet state Ukraine as a member along with plans for a missile defence system in Poland. This produced an angry response from Russia, so much so that it had to create a military crisis in South Ossetia to express its intent to use force if needed. When President Obama took oath of office, he immediately embarked on mending relations with Russia.

From the media polls it is quite clear that Prime Minister Putin, a passionate Russian nationalist, might emerge as a leading contender to grab a second tenure as the president of Russia in 2012. If that happens, there would be no doubt that Russia would accelerate the creation of a regional organisation of former Soviet states to create a cartel of commodity-rich countries. The recent signing of a currency deal between Russia and China is a step in creating an economic collaboration between this emerging bloc and China.

India, in recent weeks, has been in the limelight because of visits of world leaders starting with US President Obama, who endorsed India’s candidacy for the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) permanent membership. This was followed by Angela Merkel of Germany, Nicolas Sarkozy of France, David Cameron of UK, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China and ended with Dmitry Medvedev of Russia who also endorsed India’s candidacy for the UNSC. These visits clearly indicate that India is recognised as a player on the world stage but not yet fully capable to handle the diplomatic and military requirements of an international power.

This would mean that during the next few decades India has to align itself with one of the three dominant players, i.e. the West led by the US, Russia, which is an old ally, or China, which is a traditional rival. Their long history of alliance until the dismemberment of the USSR and the socialist character of Indian society would suggest that Russia is a natural partner. But this time around, economic growth has been the main driving force of Indian foreign policy to maintain its annual growth of seven percent. With the adoption of capitalism, large numbers of non-resident Indians (NRI) in western countries and a democratic government, it is likely that India will align itself with the West in the form of trade and security alliances. There is a possibility that NATO will remake itself to be a global alliance with India as its member in South Asia.


The two minor powers with long histories of regional influence are Brazil and Turkey. Former President Lula da Silva’s economic policies have produced a strong Brazil, which is confident in its roots and culture. Brazil has traditionally competed with the US to have influence in South America. This rivalry has created an opening for China to form trade relations with Brazil with an eye towards increased cooperation in other spheres of influence. For the foreseeable future, Brazil will focus inward with an occasional role on the world stage like the recent tripartite, along with Turkey, agreement with Iran to contain its nuclear ambitions.

Turkey was an alliance partner with Germany in World War I, which ultimately resulted in the disbanding of the Ottoman Empire that existed for 700 years. This long history of global influence has endowed Turkey with deep knowledge of diplomatic, military and trade relations. For most part of the 20th century, it focused inward to improve its economy and strengthen its social fabric. At the dawn of the 21st century, Turkey has emerged as an important player in the region that can play a significant role in the resolution of conflicts. In almost all negotiations in the last five years, Turkey has played a major role. Whether it was a back channel discussion between Syria, Israel and the US, or negotiations on the containment of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, or a summit meeting between the Afghan and Pakistani presidents, Turkey has been centre-stage. On the other hand, Turkey has reached out to Russia and China for trade pacts to strengthen its position as a gateway to resource-rich Central Asia and Europe.

While these relationships and players emerge, the most important development that would establish the balance of power will be the reorganisation of the UNSC. The negotiations are already underway for this purpose, but it is clear that the opening will be for more than one new permanent member and that the veto power will be democratised. There are many formulas in play to promote candidates but one thing is significant. Representation of the Muslim bloc will be important to provide a voice to over 33 percent of humanity that are connected by a shared system of beliefs. Turkey meets many requirements as representative of the Muslim world. First, it was a global player during the Ottoman rule for over 700 years. Second, it has a long history of relations with the West. Third, it has the diplomatic goodwill among the Muslim countries to represent their interests. And last, it understands global diplomacy to resolve conflicts.

Almost all countries have Muslim communities and most conflicts involve their interests. Radicalisation of Muslim societies is a political phenomenon and results from the absence of their voice on the world stage to resolve these conflicts. It is important for world peace that the voice of Muslims is heard by seating them at the UNSC.

The writer is Chairman Council of Past Presidents, Pakistan Chamber of Commerce-USA. He can be reached at abdul.kundi@gmail.com