India’s national security priorities and the European Union(EU)

In India there are multiple establishments with overlapping work mandate, and also many of these security institutions (army, air force, navy and defence ministry) have their think tanks which outline the longer term research agendas. Ministry of Home Affairs and National Security Council which deals with national security matters do not have a single think tank working on national security issues. National Security Council is seen as a quasi-think tank. Few project specific issues have been outsourced to institutions such as IDSA and Vivekananda International Foundation(VIF). Very limited projects have been outsourced to few think tanks in private domain and also few Chairs such as Lal Bahadur Shastri Chair in IDSA have been established to address core national security issues. These institutions deal primarily with issues related to the defence and security as well as the foreign policy matters. These issues have seen much traction under NDA which has promoted interaction at the Track II level also with Europe. The European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) has been one of the harbingers of the Track II diplomacy which has been much appreciated and more than eight editions of such a dialogue have taken place with Indian think tanks. The common objectives with regard to EUISS dialogue with the Indian counterparts has been primarily focused on core issues such as respective neighbourhoods, defence and security matters, India’s defence reforms, and the developments in which Middle East/West Asia as well as Afghanistan figure prominently.

In these dialogues representatives from more than 20 EU member nations participated in the Track II dialogues whenever these were held in Europe. During the discussions, it was felt that the areas of mutual interest have varied across regions with different agenda and objectives for the EU member nations (28) and India. While for countries such as Malta, the core objective was to get Indian investment and other expertise related to skill and development, the larger nations such as Germany and France have discussed more in terms of enhancing the bilateral ties from the point of view of investment, trade, climate change, energy-efficient technology, and developing new sources of renewable energy. The difference in security matters hogged the limelight. It has been increasing seen that with the increasing liberalisation of India’s defence sector, multiple opportunities have emerged which can be exploited by the EU. Primarily with defence and security matters, it has been seen that NATO has been the prime area of research as well as deliberations in India. Unfortunately, NATO did not exude that much of interest in the India’s policy circles until NATO ‘s role in Afghanistan under the UN-mandated International Security Assistance Force(ISAF) came under careful scrutiny and analyses. Even at that point of time, the critical element of research has been the role of the Taliban supported outfits and Pakistani terror groups operating in Afghanistan and how have ISAF would cater to the situational aspects in terms of operations and tactical moves. Much research within India has been done with regard to the withdrawal symptoms of the forces, instances of depression, and anxiety which was found in the ISAF forces.

Obviously, taking into cognizance all the aspects with regard to India’s interests in South Asia and EU ‘s approach towards this region, there are possible synergies. Even meetings such as Asia Europe Meetings better known ASEM have identified common areas of convergence between the two sides. These areas include energy efficiency, disaster response, research in medicines and biopharma, water management and innovation in technologies. For India’s security establishment, the interest is largely disaster management and refugees, while other aspects are deliberated by the concerned ministries and departments. The different issues deliberated within ASEM were seen as a peripheral areas of studies but not the core interest area for national security establishment. India’s approach towards the EU and its decision-making has been rather limited given the fact that it has very intense and strong bilateral ties with major countries in the Europe. This includes France, Germany and Britain (which has formally exited EU). The relationship with Italy has been to a large extent limited to the defence imports and also set some niche products which only Italy produces. India’s approach towards the European Union has been more of a composite nature, while in the case of Europe as a continent, it has been divided into Eastern Europe, Western Europe and Central & Southern Europe for policy decisions and regional approach. In Eastern Europe defence collaborations have been proposed with the erstwhile Soviet Union partners, and the new nations which have emerged after the disintegration of USSR. The issue which gains attention at this point of time is that Central Europe given its limited resources potential has very limited attention span in the security circles. However, countries like Poland are increasingly seen as a new outsourcing destination in terms of defence and other related products.

The core National Security Institution of India-National Security Council deliberates upon select specific issues and there has been tectonic shift with regarding issues given the proximity of the NSA Ajit Doval with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The new area which have now been enlisted as the core areas of research in establishment includes cyber security, maritime security, insurgents and terror networks and the social media. The one area which has been a work in progress has been the refugees from India’s neighbouring countries (particularly Bangladesh) and their affiliation to terror groups or their actions as sympathizers. At the institutional level, the NSA's office works as a repository of information from various ministries and also undertaking assigned tasks related to any specific topic and project. As it is very clear that the present NSA is an operational person with least attention to rhetoric and wants to undertake what is actionable plan rather than the pure academic research. As a result, the micro analysis of minute details and information focused on collecting those have been very critical. Further, with regard to the global issues there are five core areas which are of importance and have been flagged. The issues such as Afghanistan, Pakistan terror networks has always been a focus area. Post Balakot surgical strike (conducted in February 2019) the focus has been more in increasing technical surveillance. However, the role and the influence that different ethnic and religious groups have in Afghanistan and Pakistan have been studied much carefully. This includes the emergence of the political opposition in Afghanistan, and Pakistan, Iran and Central Asian republics interaction with different terror syndicates operating from Pakistan. After the signing of the agreement between US and Taliban the post US withdrawal situation is the focus of most of the security establishment in India. It has been seen in the past that resurgence of Taliban in Afghanistan has led to increase in terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir. Afghanistan and its stability would engross the national security establishment in coming days. Further addition to this has been the role played by front organizations of the Islamic state across South Asia and the enlisting of persons with dubious records and suspicious affiliations. Even returnees form the west Asia would be under due surveillance. Lately, money laundering and terror financing have also hogged attention in national security establishment because at times investigation into one of these transactions have given leads to major terrorist plots. However, in this regard the institutional support from the Ministry of Finance and Reserve Bank of India are critical for joining the dots.

The second core issue has been the developments in West Asia, new offshoots of Al Qaeda and Islamic state, and particularly the issue of converts which have converted to other religion and the same is not reflected in their passports. Further, given the limited intelligence is available in open domain so regular dialogues with various intelligence organisations has been an ongoing process. The bilateral dialogues with British, German and US security agencies has been an annual feature. With regard to EU, the only stumbling block is that it has failed to develop as the centralised repository of intelligence and critical information related to terror groups and fugitive transnational criminals. The other aspect which has been a deterring factor has been the EU’s counter terrorism laws and an avoidance to the capital punishment. This has been a major issue with regard to compatibility as well as giving exemptions to select few criminals and terrorists who are deported from European nations to India. In India the counter terrorism laws itself have seen evolution from Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) (TADA) Act to Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 (POTA) and thereafter to Unlawful Activities(Prevention) Amendment Act, 2012 and its new amended avatars. This has been possible because of proactive opposition and bringing accountability to the law making process. One common complaint among security establishment in India has been the safe havens provided by select European nations to both the Myanmar based insurgent outfits and other outfits which operate in the Northeastern parts of India. The primary location for most of these has been Belgium and Netherlands.

A few more related areas of concern include the role played by select institutions in covertly supporting Naxalite movement in India and in the past many such enlightened groups or persons from many countries in Europe have been deported. In the national security parlance this proactive interference in internal security matters is unacceptable. As a result of this many journalists and other social institutions are finding it hard to get valid visas. In the new security framework and the establishment, nothing matters above national security objectives. The collateral casualty is the fact that now the Ministry of Home Affairs which primarily deals with Internal Security, overrules even genuine applicants. The cooperation which was expected from EU with regard to money laundering and providing information related to the suspicious transactions has been tardy to say the least.

Iran has been a matter of concern but not alarm for India given the relatively better relations with the estranged country. Even during the sanctions regime, India has procured the Iranian oil at competitive prices. The dialogue between the two countries has been  steady even during the hardest times for Iran in international order. While relations with Iran has been good but the tracking for Iranian renegades and the Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards has become more a matter of intense study after the attack on the Israeli diplomat.

For India, Israel is enlisted much higher than any of the Middle East countries. National Security establishment has one of the most vibrant dialogues with the country and has been the most productive so far. The increased closeness can be deciphered with the visit of the Prime Minister Modi to Israel. While Israel has been a core focus area but India has managed to rope in Saudi Arabia and UAE in its fold given the multi-alignment and promising proactive approach towards these countries. The amount of support that India has gained from these two countries is commendable and thus can be attributed to the role played by many ministries and also the close cooperation between the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs and the National Security Council.

The cyber security has now become a priority area for national security establishment and the various departments and armed forces has been able to employ and engage the sound minds and great strategists in this domain. This is likely to be one area of cooperation between EU and India given the role played by the bots, programmed viruses and the covert linkages and flaws that the terror groups use for communicating and passing of instructions.

Aligned with these, attention is always given to the major powers and their national security objectives. Russia, US, China and Japan have always figured as important countries for monitoring and analysis. The last pertinent question which germinates at this juncture is what are the possible areas of cooperation between the India and EU. The role played by the transnational terror syndicates, affiliate organisations, money laundering and also instituting a viable project related to cyber security and social media networks would be what the national security establishment in India would be interested in. For India, the bilateral interactions still hold over the multilateral engagements particularly in security frameworks.