From Britain¡¦s point of view, the problems of security and defense in India subcontinent were far greater than those of the maintenance of law and order and imperial rule in the subcontinent itself. For Indian subcontinent, it was the pivot of British power in all of Asia. Furthermore, British possessed the maritime supremacy, the main threat came from the land, especially form the Northwest frontier. British strategy for the defense of India¡¦s land frontiers was based on the following three points: (1) to maintain firm military strength in the most vulnerable parts of the frontier, i.e., the Northwest frontier and Baluchistan, and to keep the tribes of this area pacified or under their control by ¡§divide and rule¡¨ tactics, for the purpose of consolidating integrity of the Northwest frontier and the security of India subcontinent; (2) to encourage the establishment of a string of buffer states all along the perimeter of the subcontinent and to maintain influence or friendly relations with them; and (3) to prevent any contiguous territory and states form coming under the control of a strong power, notably Russia, if necessary by forceful means. Although there are many historical and geographic constraints in South Asia defense considerations, the present defense strategy of India has to be designed to meet the new circumstances. Throughout the years of independence the main security concern of India has been defense over both land and sea problems. On land, India has to handle the relationship with Pakistan and protect the Northeast frontier against the threat from China. In the past, the Northwest frontier was an unified area, after the retreat of British power in 1947, the geographical and strategic unity of the India subcontinent was broken. Moreover, India has nearly a coastline of 7,000 km long, but India doesn¡¦t have the maritime supremacy, so that it should be compelled to deal with potential threat from India ocean.