North Sentinel Island

Iran Not ‘Drawing Back’ Militarily After Saudi Attack, Says US Admiral

The Iran-aligned Houthi militant group in Yemen has claimed responsibility for the September 14 attack.

Washington: Iran has not drawn back to a less threatening military posture in the region following the September 14 attack on Saudi Arabia, the top US admiral in the Middle East told Reuters, suggesting persistent concern despite a lull in violence.

“I don’t believe that they’re drawing back at all,” Vice Admiral Jim Malloy, commander of the US Navy’s Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet, said in an interview.

The United States, Saudi Arabia, Britain, France and Germany have publicly blamed the attack on Iran, which denies involvement in the strike on the world’s biggest crude oil-processing facility. The Iran-aligned Houthi militant group in Yemen has claimed responsibility.

Malloy did not comment on any US intelligence guiding his assessment. But he acknowledged that he monitored Iranian activities closely, when asked if he had seen any concerning movements of Iranian missiles in recent weeks.

Malloy said that he regularly tracks Iranian cruise and ballistic missile movements – “whether they’re moving to storage, away from storage.” He also monitors whether Iran’s mine laying capabilities head to distribution sites or away from them.

“I get a briefing of movements on a daily basis and then assessments as to what that could mean,” he said.

Relations between the United States and Iran have deteriorated sharply since President Donald Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear accord last year and reimposed sanctions on its oil exports.

For months, Iranian officials issued veiled threats, saying that if Tehran was blocked from exporting oil, other countries would not be able to do so either.

However, Iran has denied any role in a series of attacks that have followed, including against tankers in the Gulf using limpet mines earlier this year.

“Deny It If You Can”

Asked what the latest attack in Saudi Arabia showed him, Malloy said, “From my perspective, it is a land-based version of what they did with the mines … quick, clandestine — deny it if you can.”

“Send a signal and harass and provoke,” he said.

His remarks came a week after the Pentagon announced it was sending four radar systems, a battery of Patriot missiles and about 200 support personnel to bolster Saudi defences – the latest in a series of US deployments to the region this year amid escalating tensions.

Still, the latest deployment was more limited than had been initially under consideration.

Also read: FATF Arm Finds ‘Critical Gaps’ in Pakistan’s Actions Against Terror Groups

Reuters has previously reported, for example, that the Pentagon eyed keeping an aircraft carrier in the Gulf region indefinitely, amid speculation that the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group will soon need to wind up its deployment.

Malloy declined to speculate about future carrier deployments. But he acknowledged the tremendous value of aircraft carriers — as well as the ships in the strike groups that accompany an aircraft carrier.

That includes the contribution of destroyers now accompanying the USS Abraham Lincoln to a U.S.-led, multinational maritime effort known as Operation Sentinel.

It is meant to deter Iranian attacks at sea – and expose them if they occur.

Shining a Flash-point

“What Sentinel seeks to do is shine a flashlight across that and make sure that if anything happens in the maritime, they will be exposed for that activity,” he said.

This includes by providing a surveillance and communication backbone to share intelligence with nations that have agreed to participate, which include Britain, Australia, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

“We’ve created essentially a zone defence,” he said.

Washington first proposed the effort in the Gulf in June after accusing Iran of attacking oil tankers around the Strait of Hormuz, a critical maritime choke point. But the proposal was met with concern in some European capitals, already at odds with Washington over its withdrawal from the nuclear deal.

Malloy met Saudi Arabia’s naval commander on Sunday, assuring him of US support following the September 14th attack, which rattled global oil markets. He said US support included intelligence sharing. “We are constantly in the process of tightening that information flow with them,” Malloy said.

(Reuters)

The Doctor’s Diary That Holds Clues About the Residents of North Sentinel

Ratan Chandra Kar worked with the Jarawa tribe, who inhabit an island just 48 km from North Sentinel, and documented aspects of their life.

I was in Port Blair earlier this year and had an opportunity to visit the small but impressive Zonal Anthropological Museum. Most visitors to the Andamans are curious about the indigenous inhabitants of these remote islands between India and Myanmar.

However, contacting the groups or even taking a photograph is strictly prohibited. The museum offers a window into their lives with models of thatched huts, canoes and pictures of islanders dancing or hunting for fish, leading lives seemingly untouched by the modern world.

The Jarawas of the Andamans by Ratan Chandra Kar

At the gift shop, a book called The Jarawas of the Andamans caught my eye. The author was not an anthropologist but a physician named Ratan Chandra Kar. Originally written in Bengali, the book was published as Andamaner Adim Janajati Jarawa in 2009. Based on his diaries, it was an account of an indigenous group called the Jarawa that had emerged from semi-isolation after a prolonged period of hostility. Kar was the medical officer who had monitored their health, working out of a primary health centre housed in a thatched hut in Kadamtala village.

Over time, he grew friendly with the Jarawa and observed their unique customs and habits from close quarters. He is also credited with bringing them back from the brink of extinction during a measles epidemic in 1999. The book touches on all aspects of their life. Observations on the state of their health and vulnerability to disease soon after they emerged from isolation in 1996 are particularly relevant in light of recent events.

Last week, North Sentinel Island made international headlines when John Allen Chau, an American missionary, was found dead on its shores, killed by arrows. The Sentinelese are fierce defenders of their tiny forested island fringed by coral reefs, and are believed to be are among the most isolated communities on Earth.

Also Read: Access to North Sentinel Eased Even as NITI Aayog Unveils A&N Tourism Plans

Survival International, which campaigns on behalf of indigenous and uncontacted populations, is concerned about the current situation on the island. “Their extreme isolation makes them very vulnerable to diseases to which they have no immunity, meaning contact would almost certainly have tragic consequences for them,” a statement said.

What happens to isolated communities when they first come in contact with the outside world? The story of the Jarawa provides some clues, and they have ancient links to the Sentinelese. The Jarawa homeland is roughly 48 km from North Sentinel Island. Some scholars believe the Jarawa migrated to the island in rudimentary boats in ancient times.

The languages of the Andaman islands.

In a paper on the genetic origins of Andaman Islanders, University of Oxford scientists use the term “Jarawa” to describe the Sentinelese “on the basis of their similar phenotype and similarity in language.” Another study by the Central Forensic Science Laboratory in Kolkata says the two groups share a link because they are “one of the oldest existing real hunter-gatherer populations of the world.”

When he first met the Jarawa in 1998, Kar found them to be in exceptionally good health. He describes them as “well built and apparently healthier than any other tribal community on the mainland, even better than the common rural people.” Conditions like obesity, hypertension, heart disease and even mental illness were foreign to them and they were practically disease-free. Injuries from crocodile bites, worms and skin ulcers were common ailments. Every Jarawa family made “alam”, powdered red clay mixed with pig fat which they used for minor aches and pains.

Traditional birthing methods

Kar was once invited to witness what he calls the “thousand years old rich traditional delivery system”. The Jarawa were utterly confident in their traditional birthing methods and never sought the help of a doctor. They used a variety of techniques rarely seen in modern obstetrics.

In order to ease labor pain, women in the community would warm their feet over a fire and apply mild pressure to the belly of a pregnant woman. The husband was the “obstetrician” extracting the baby and cutting the umbilical cord with a heated hunting knife. And women typically gave birth in a squatting position which Kar found was beneficial for both mother and baby.

Although physically strong, the Jarawa were weak in other ways. Contact with the outside world brought the first outbreak of measles and 40% of the population was affected. Kar treated them with the antibiotic ciprofloxacillin and they recovered. But he writes that it was a tense time as activists and anthropologists were worried that the Jarawa would be “wiped out from the earth.”

Diseases like measles can be devastating for tribal people, observes Survival International: “In the 19th century, it wiped out at least half of the Great Andamanese on one island and all those on another island. That tribe, once 5,000 strong, now numbers only 41 people.”

Also Read: ‘Call off Efforts to Retrieve Body of John Allen Chau from North Sentinel Island’

Kar urged caution on the issue of vaccination. The “inherent immunity” of the Jarawa, he argued, was far better than “immunity gained if at all done by modern vaccination system.” One example of their immunity was the absence of Hepatitis B even though more than half the population were carriers. Other experts however were alarmed that 66% of the Jarawa were testing positive for the Hepatitis B antigen, a rate “probably the highest ever reported in the world.” Immunisation is now routine for all Jarawa children.

Relative isolation

The tribes of Andaman islands. Credit: Bidyut Kumar Das.

Today, the group lives in relative isolation on the Jarawa Reserve. The main threat to their way of life is the Andaman trunk road which runs through their forest and whose construction was described by one official as an “act of monumental folly.”

The Jarawa population has grown and they have fared better than other islanders. A related group, the Jangil of Rutland Island, became extinct in 1931 while the Greater Andamanese and Onge, who were brought into the mainstream, have seen steep declines in their numbers. The government of India has heeded the advice of experts like Kar who warned that any attempts to “civilise” the Jarawa by giving them clothing or education was likely to put their very existence in jeopardy.

This week the “leave them alone” policy was once again put to the test as Survival International and Indian scholars pleaded with Andaman officials to abandon attempts to approach the shores of North Sentinel Island to recover Chau’s body.

Sribala Subramanian writes on green issues and tweets at @bsubram. She was formerly with TIME magazine.

Access to North Sentinel Eased Even as NITI Aayog Unveils A&N Tourism Plans

Was the intention to open North Sentinel for tourism or to shield the island from intrusive visitors?

North Sentinel island lies about 55 km west of Port Blair. It is a largely forested land inhibited by a native tribe famous for wanting to be left alone. That is why members of the tribe recently killed John Allen Chau, an American who wanted to get on North Sentinel and meet them.

The island’s ecosystem aids the tribe’s isolation. It is about 60 sq. km in area, too small to interest settler colonies and with no natural harbour to allow anchorage. Submerged coral reefs surround the island, keeping away large ships while playing host to shallow lagoons that ‘trap’ fish. They allow the Sentinelese to feed themselves without venturing far out into sea.

Although the Sentinelese are designated members of an ‘uncontacted tribe’, they have been contacted. In the last 200 years alone, British colonial administrators and anthropologists from India, along with the other tribal groups in the archipelago, have visited the Sentinelese. They haven’t been welcome. Instances of kidnapping also likely led to heightened feelings of mistrust.

Also Read: ‘Call off Efforts to Retrieve Body of John Allen Chau from North Sentinel Island’

Now, there are also concerns that Chau could have exposed them to diseases that they lack the genetic immunity for – even afflictions as simple as the common cold.

“Chau had visited the islands a couple of times before this incident” Zubair Ahmed, a journalist in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, told The Wire. “This time, he went to North Sentinel twice.”

On his first visit, the Sentinelese had shot arrows at him and forced him to abandon his quest. The second time, he was more determined, at least according to his journal. “This is when the tribes shot directly at him and he was killed,” Ahmed said.

He blames lax security for the incident. Per ‘Eyes On, Hands Off’, he said, the island has to be regularly patrolled. If this had actually been done, “Chau’s visits to the island would not have occured” in the first place.“Many fishermen go to tribal reserves, including those inhabited by the Sentinelese, because the buffer zones in such areas have abundant marine life and provide lucrative opportunities like lobster fishing,” Ahmed added.

Sophie Grig, a senior research and advocacy officer at Survival International, a global organisation, believes it’s “essential” that we respect the tribe’s desire to not be contacted. And like Ahmed, she believes the Sentinelese should be extended better protection.

“In the case of North Sentinel, this includes policing the waters to keep away fishermen, poachers or anyone else who wishes to land on the island,” she said.

As if in acknowledgment, the Government of India recognises the island as a sovereign area where the Sentinelese are mostly left alone. It is monitored remotely. Access to the island and its buffer zone is restricted by the Protection of Aboriginal Tribe (Regulations) 1956 and the Indian Forest Act 1927.

However, these rules are due to be changed to boost the archipelago’s prospects for tourism.

From August 2018, the Centre no longer required foreigners to obtain a restricted area permit (RAP) before visiting any of the 29 islands in the archipelago till December 31, 2022. North Sentinel is one of them.

A home ministry official said the decision was taken “in the interest of promoting tourism and overall development of the Union Territory”.

The NITI Aayog has also laid out plans for ‘holistic development’ of the islands. They include high-end tourism projects and installing the requisite infrastructure.

“All islands for which RAP requirements have been removed are inhabited … many by native communities like the Nicobarese and the Sentinelese,” Pankaj Sekhsaria, a member of Kalpavriksh, an NGO working on environmental and social issues, told The Wire. “We can only assume that the list was drawn up on the assumption that inhabited islands already have some infrastructure in place to support tourism.”

He thinks the government’s move suggests it “ignored” ground realities. Interview, one of the 29 islands, also “hosts feral elephants”.

It’s not clear why the RAP was done away with, more so because the 29 islands are not freely accessible. Foreigners still have to obtain clearances from the tribal affairs and environment ministries to visit certain protected areas like them.

Was the intention to open North Sentinel for tourism or to shield the island from intrusive visitors?

Nonetheless, because the government seems to be weakening certain protections, more incursions are only to be expected.

“An English newspaper recently carried a story with the headline ‘Dangerous tribe islands to open to tourists’ referencing North Sentinel,” according to Grig. “We know this isn’t true because other regulations are in place to restrict access to such islands. But the removal of RAP is problematic because the message behind the move is confusing.”

The RAP’s removal may not have directly encouraged Chau’s visit to the island, as the local administration claimed. There is also the question of why these islands out of the 550+ in the archipelago.

“All the happenings in the last few months indicate that those promoting tourism in the islands are not aware of their ecological, geological and sociocultural aspects,” Sekhsaria said. “This is causing their increasing vulnerability.”

It remains to be seen if the RAP’s elimination was connected to the tourism plan and, more importantly, whom the plans will benefit.

Rishika Pardikar is a freelance journalist in Bengaluru.

Ten Years After 26/11, Coastal Police Stations Are Still a Weak Link

Just as 26/11 highlighted the chinks in India’s maritime intelligence, the killing of an American in the Andamans has once again put the spotlight on the glaring gaps in India’s coastal policing abilities.

In November 2008, a small vessel sailed the Arabian Sea undetected and slipped into Mumbai near Badhwar Park, which falls under the jurisdiction of the local Cuffe Parade police station. The terrorists who disembarked carried out a series of audacious attacks, on what is now referred to as 26/11, an event that exposed the enormity of India’s maritime and coastal vulnerability.

Fast forward to November 2018. In a similar manner, a fishing vessel breached surveillance cordons in the Andaman sea and enabled a US tourist to land on the North Sentinel island – an island that is totally out of bounds to all visitors. This exclusive zone has been put in place to ensure the safety of the Sentinelese people, who are deemed to be the last pre-Neolitihic tribe on the planet. The tourist-preacher slipped through the surveillance protocols by paying a sum of money, but was shot dead with arrows by the Sentinelese.

Read: What the Maharashtra Government Promised to Do Based on 26/11 Inquiry

In both cases, local police lacked the capacity and the intelligence inputs to pre-empt what followed. This draws attention to an abiding challenge for India’s maritime security – the efficacy of the coastal police station (CSP).

India has a long coastline of 7,510 km, spread across nine coastal states and four Union Territories (UT). The responsibility for maritime security devolves upon three principal agencies – the Indian navy; the Indian Coast Guard (ICG); and local state/UT police. After 26/11, it was acknowledged that two agencies – namely the ICG and the state police – needed a much greater infusion of resources, and numerous policy initiatives were launched.

Also read: Centre Ignored ST Panel Advice on Protecting Vulnerable Andaman Tribes

While the navy has overall responsibility for national maritime security, including coastal and off-shore assets, the ICG has been designated as the nodal authority for coastal security in territorial waters (12 nautical miles), including those areas patrolled by the state coastal police.

The ICG, which is the fourth armed force of the country, had 65 vessels and 45 aircraft in 2008. Ambitious plans were drawn up to enhance the platform inventory. In the last decade, the ICG has visibly increased its surveillance footprint and the detection-apprehending rate of suspicious vessels.

This is a sector where there has been tangible enhancement of capacity and efficacy after 26/11. It is expected that by 2023 (15 years after 26/11), the ICG will have 190 vessels and a 100 aircraft, thereby allowing it a much higher level of surveillance and boarding/inspection capability.

Also read: On the Anniversary of 26/11, India Needs to See Beyond the US Model of Counter-Terrorism

The same cannot be said of coastal policing by individual states and UTs a decade after November 2008.

After 26/11, a sum of Rs 2,225 crore was allocated to improve the capability of coastal policing, part of a comprehensive coastal security scheme to be implemented in two phases (till end March 2020).

Accordingly, a total of 131 additional CPS have been sanctioned – bringing the total to 183 – but progress has been uneven. Some states, like Tamil Nadu, have demonstrated commendable resolve in investing appropriate HR and infrastructure into their CSPs. Others remain indifferent to this aspect of policing.

Mumbai in particular receives annual media attention in the run-up to 26/11 and over the last few years, some very embarrassing details have surfaced. Some years ago a media team carried out the equivalent of a sting operation and demonstrated on camera the sorry state of the new coastal police stations along the Mumbai coast, and the relative ease with which contraband goods could be brought ashore without detection.

Also read: Full Text: What the High Level Inquiry Committee on the 26/11 Attacks Had to Say

This year has again revealed the poor state of the three major CSPs of Mumbai and the equipment/platforms provided to them. Cars are reported to have broken down and the boats have no fuel. To compound this deplorable state of affairs, the personnel manning these CSPs are not suitably qualified and their officers are far from motivated.

Coastal security in India is a multi-layered responsibility and challenge, which needs seamless and swift inter-agency coordination. While the navy and the Coast Guard operate under central government direction, the CSP comes under the purview of the state/UT.

Intelligence inputs have to be monitored and analysed 24×7 and transmuted into ‘actionable intel’ so as to pre-empt the undesirable exigency. Professional ineptitude and institutional turpitude were more than evident in the David Headley case that contributed in no small measure to the scale of 26/11.

In the Andaman and Nicobar UT, a similar pattern was apparent: Central and local intelligence and police agencies were unable to monitor and prevent John Allen Chau from reaching an island totally forbidden to visitors.

The adage that a chain is as strong as its weakest link is more than applicable when it comes to India’s coastal security and the efficacy index of the coastal police station. Ten years after 26/11 it is difficult to be sanguine about India’s comprehensive maritime security.

Commodore C. Uday Bhaskar is Director Society for Policy Studies, New Delhi.

‘Adventurist’ American Killed by Protected Andaman Tribe on Island Off-Limits to Visitors

The North Sentinel Island is home to the Sentinelese community, who allegedly killed the American identified as John Allen Chau after he was illegally ferried there by fishermen.

Port Blair: An American visiting one of the islands in India’s remote cluster of Andaman and Nicobar has been killed by a group of hunter-gatherers who live there isolated from the outside world, two police officials said on Wednesday.

The North Sentinel Island is home to the Sentinelese community, who allegedly killed the American, identified as John Allen Chau, after he was illegally ferried there by fishermen, the officials added.

“A murder case has been registered,” one of the officials told Reuters. Both officials sought anonymity as they are not authorised to speak to the media.

According to the Andaman and Nicobar police, seven people, including five fishermen, have been arrested for taking Chau to the island. Police said the American had paid the fishermen Rs 25,000 to transport him.

In a statement late on Tuesday, Deepak Yadav, a senior police officer, said authorities in the island chain in the Bay of Bengal had launched an investigation.

The investigation began after police were contacted by the United States consulate in the southern city of Chennai, which has been in touch with Chau’s mother, the statement said.

“We are aware of reports concerning a US citizen in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands,” a consulate spokeswoman said in an email.

“When a US citizen is missing, we work closely with local authorities as they carry out their search efforts,” she added, but declined to provide further details over privacy concerns.

An image from John Allen Chau’s Instagram feed. Credit: Instagram

While initial reports said that Chau was a preacher who wanted to preach to the Sentinelese community, the director general of police, Andaman and Nicobar, Dipendra Pathak said that the American was on a “misplaced adventure”.

Also read: The Trials and Tribulations of the Andaman Fisheries

“People thought he is a missionary because he had mentioned his position on God and that he was a believer on social media or somewhere online. But in a strict sense, he was not a missionary. He was an adventurer. His intention was to meet the aborigines,” Pathak told The News Minute.

“They [Chau and those who were helping him get to the island] started on 14.11.2018, around 8 pm… and reached there by midnight. On 15.11.2018 morning, John (Chau) moved to shore using his kayak which he got towed with the fishing boat,” Pathak said in a statement. The fishermen had been told to pick him up later. “In the morning of 17.11.2018, the fishermen saw a dead person being buried at the shore which, from the silhouette of the body, clothing and circumstances, appeared to be the body of John Allen Chau,” the statement continues. The fishermen then returned to Port Blair and told Chau’s friend, who called a friend of his in the US. This friend got in touch with Chau’s family “They didn’t inform the police or any government authority,” Pathak said.

Reports have said that on December 15 evening, Chau rejoined the fishermen, and then went back to the island the next morning. UK-based Daily Mail reported that it had accessed Chau’s field notes from the first day, written as a letter to his friends and family. “You guys might think I’m crazy in all this but I think it’s worth it to declare Jesus to these people,” Chau reportedly wrote. “Please do not be angry at them or at God if I get killed.

The American also said that Sentinelese men had shot an arrow at him on the first day. “They had two arrows each, unstrung, until they got closer. I hollered, ‘My name is John, I love you and Jesus loves you’,” Chau wrote. “I regret I began to panic slightly as I saw them string arrows in their bows. I picked up the fish and threw it toward them. They kept coming. I paddled like I never have in my life back to the boat. I felt some fear but mainly was disappointed. They didn’t accept me right away.”

North Sentinel Island is about 50 km west of Port Blair, the capital of the island cluster. The Times of India reported in August this year that the Ministry of Home Affairs had relaxed the restricted area permit foreigners needed to travel to 29 islands in Andaman and Nicobar – including North Sentinel Island.

Survival International, a global tribal rights movement, has issued a statement saying holding Indian authorities responsible for Chau’s death. “This tragedy should never have been allowed to happen. The Indian authorities should have been enforcing the protection of the Sentinelese and their island for the safety of both the tribe, and outsiders. Instead, a few months ago the authorities lifted one of the restrictions that had been protecting the Sentinelese tribe’s island from foreign tourists, which sent exactly the wrong message, and may have contributed to this terrible event. It’s not impossible that the Sentinelese have just been infected by deadly pathogens to which they have no immunity, with the potential to wipe out the entire tribe,” the statement says.

In 2006, two fishermen, whose boat strayed onto the 60-sq-km island, were killed and their bodies never recovered.

An Indian Coast Guard helicopter sent to retrieve the bodies was repelled by a volley of arrows from the community, believed to be the last pre-Neolithic tribe in the world.

(With Reuters inputs)