MARITIME SECURITY AND GEO-POLITICS IN INDIAN OCEAN REGION: REPERCUSSIONS FOR PAKISTAN

The world has witnessed a geopolitical power shift from Atlantic to Indo-Pacific, prompting the regional and extra-regional actors to scramble for power in Indian Ocean Region-IOR. China has unveiled Belt and Road Initiative to buttress its maritime foothold, while US, India, Japan, Australia, and UK are forging strategic partnerships and alliances such as Quad and AUKUS to counter China’s prowess. The geopolitical convergence and divergence have made Indian Ocean a hub of geo-politics, horrendously undermining region’s maritime security. As far as Pakistan’s position is concerned, it is being enormously affected owing to its partnership with China in the form of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor-CPEC. This research employs theoretical framework of geo-politics, maritime security complex, and Securitization. The methodology used is qualitative while the type of social research is exploratory. This insight concludes that various interlinked geopolitical developments are threatening the maritime security of IOR, which in turn has economic, security, and political ramifications for Pakistan. It also provides various recommendations for the formulation of Pakistan’s maritime strategy based on elements of soft and hard power.