The Defence of India and Indo-British Obligations

Abstract

THE future of peace in Asia, and perhaps in the whole world, depends on the organization of an integral relation between Great Britain and a free India, under which the latter is placed in a position to shoulder the burdens of independence and national defence and has a large share in responsibility for the maintenance of peace in the areas vital to her. In order to be capable of undertaking that responsibility India and Great Britain must evolve an enduring relationship by free negotiation and agreement, which will in some ways be different from the relationships now existing between the Mother country and the other Dominions. The reason for this difference will be obvious; their problems of security are totally different. The defence of Canada, for example, is integrated with that of the United States, so obviously her security problems can only be worked out in co-operation with the United States of America. The defence of Australasia is a Pacific problem and here again the United States of America, as the dominant naval Power in the Pacific Ocean, must share the responsibility with Great Britain. South Africa's position is more fortunate, since she is situated far away from the seats of dynamic military and political power, and can therefore follow a policy of limited isolation. India alone, of all the units of the Commonwealth, has a major problem of land defence. Her situation on the mainland of Asia creates problems of security the magnitude and complexity of which are becoming clearer to us every day. No argument is required to prove that for many decades to come India will not be in a position to defend herself against a military Power organized on modern lines. Her national military strength has to be built up slowly and with infinite patience, by careful organization and longsighted policy. It must derive from the latest scientific industry; and it must develop in harmony with the defence programmes of other Powers concerned in the security of the whole area of the Indian Ocean. Such organization is obviously possible only on the basis of the most intimate Indo-British co-operation: such co-operation is the only assumption on which the freedom of India can be achieved. But the question to be considered is how the co-operation is to be organized. Co-operation on such an important matter cannot be haphazard, cannot be left to improvisation under the stress of political necessities. The structure of the organization and the mechanics of its operation must be carefully worked out and must function as a normal relationship between the two countries, outside the sphere of political argument. If so much is accepted, it will be seen that in the matter of security