Blackadder1916
Army.ca Veteran
- Reaction score
- 2,538
- Points
- 1,160
And another country is heard from.
India launches first navy mission against pirates
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/3215953/India-launches-first-navy-mission-against-pirates.html
India launches first navy mission against pirates
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/3215953/India-launches-first-navy-mission-against-pirates.html
The Indian navy has for the first time deployed a warship to conduct anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden off the Somali coast to protect merchant vessels.
By Rahul Bedi in New Delhi Last Updated: 12:32PM BST 17 Oct 2008
The ministry of defence in New Delhi said that the frigate, equipped with a helicopter carrying marine commandos, would safeguard India's sea-borne trade as vessels move through the vital trade route.
A spokesman said the deployment was intended to "instill confidence in our sea faring community as well as function as a deterrent for pirates".
The deployment was triggered by last month's hijacking of the Japanese-owned chemical tanker MV Stolt Valor by Somali pirates in the Red Sea as it made its way from Aden to Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay.
The pirates demanded a £3 million ransom to release the ship and its 22-member crew of which 18 including the captain were Indians. But they halved their demand to during negotiations with the ship's owner.
As the 48-hour deadline to meet the pirate's demands expired on Thursday, there was speculation that the Indian navy was planning to storm the Valor but the defence ministry denied this.
It said that a warship in the area would be "significant" as the Gulf of Aden was a major strategic "choke point" in the Indian Ocean region and provided access to the Suez Canal, through which the sizeable portion of India's trade flows.
Over 90 per cent of India's foreign trade by volume and 77 per cent by value is shipped through the region, largely through the Suez Canal.
Naval officials said that while its deployment to the Gulf of Aden formulated a nascent anti-piracy strategy, Manmohan Singh's government would not allow the navy to execute "hot pursuit" missions after pirate vessels.
Permission to pursue a pro-active strategy in this regard would only be accorded on a case by case basis only after collective consultation with the defence, foreign, law and shipping ministries, officials said.
. . .
The Indian navy's deployment in international waters also meets its ambition to expand its strategic reach in the crucial Indian Ocean region which it considers its "back yard".