India, Dec. 21 -- The idea of a multinational maritime fusion centre linked to Gwadar is being promoted as a step towards cooperation, transparency and regional security. It is framed as a responsible move by Pakistan to become a stakeholder in shared maritime awareness. Look past the language, however, and a more troubling picture emerges. Such centres rarely serve the host country first. More often, they serve those with greater reach, superior technology and clearer strategic agendas.

Maritime fusion centres are not mere coordination desks. They are intelligence nodes. They collect, analyse and distribute data on shipping movements, naval activity, commercial traffic and patterns of behaviour at sea. Whoever has access to this data ga...