Perspectives on security in indian ocean region

The book focuses on developments in the Indian Ocean area having serious implication for security both at the regional and global level. The primary responsibility for militarisation of the Indian Ocean, Kaushik argues, can be laid only at the door of the United States which has been striving for domination over the region even before the emergence of the new weapon system-the SLBM. The US strategy is conditioned not only by the new weapon system operated from under the sea, but also by the supposed efficacy of launching an attack on the forces of national liberation through surrogates helped by the US Navy perched on the little inhabited Indian Ocean islands. The RDF is meant to serve as an intervention force to discipline the recalcitrant nations of the region. The bogey of Soviet threat and the spurious superpower rivalry thesis have been exploited by Washington to cover up its aggressive designs and justify its massive military build-up in the Indian Ocean.

The author views the Peace Zone concept as a most befitting strategy of the newly independent nations of the region to counter the US offensive. He also exposes the attempts in certain quarters to distort the Peace Zone concept which, he avers, is inseparable from a nuclear free zone.