Strategic Realignment at Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean: Recalibrating Sea Lines of Communications (SLOC) in Restructuring Maritime Cooperation

With geostrategic canvas around Strait of Hormuz receiving significant strategic realignments and the Middle East revisiting its approach towards prospective confrontations, Pakistan would be mandated to utilize its maritime expertise for avoiding polarization. Gwadar is the hallmark of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and has received substantive challenges in operating as a spearhead of future maritime posturing in Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. China and Pakistan have significantly shared their vision for Gwadar and Iran is also expecting similar offers to its Chabahar port. Attention is slim, if not non-existent, in this larger canvas for smaller ports of Pakistan that may have significant geo-strategic value in prospective future for naval securitization of entire region. Pakistan can utilize its maritime vantage points not only as a junction for maritime strategies but also as an intersection for international collaboration. The spillover of this realignment on the India Ocean has also converged interests between India, America and the Middle East which is a new realignment in itself. This paper will explore possibilities of strategic realignments in the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean after CPEC, America‟s new containment strategy post-Abraham Accords as a new link to its strategic alignment with India. This paper will also explain Iran's probable posture within prospective strategic realignment at the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and the Gulf. It will also explore possibilities of connecting international strategic interests in the Hormuz region between principal investors and contending stakeholders. The paper will utilize existing strategies for geoeconomic operationalization of maritime junctions and how they interplay in contemporary geo-strategic shifts in power politics