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Indian captives on hijacked ship: New Delhi rules out military action |
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The fate of 18 Indian sailors on board the MT Stolt Valor, a Japanese vessel seized by Somali hijackers in the Gulf of Aden, continues to remain uncertain. There are in all 22 members of the crew of the ship. The hijackers are reported to have demanded a ransom of Rs. 60 million and the Japanese shipping company which says there are 15 hijackers on board the ship, has opened negotiations with them. The wife of the Captain of the ship, Prabhat Goel, said in Dehra Dun, she has received reports that the captives are being ill treated. She has appealed to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to expedite the process of getting the crew released. New Delhi has ruled out any direct intervention by Indian warships in the Gulf of Aden because, as remarked by Defence Minister A.K. Antony, it was not permitted under international law like the UN Security Council resolution 1816. The resolution, adopted on June 2, authorizes only States cooperating” with Somalia’s transitional Government to enter its territorial waters, for a period of six months to repress acts of piracy and armed robbery by all necessary means. Antony has said India wants the UN to undertake urgent steps to combat the rampant acts of piracy taking place in the Gulf of Aden of Somalia’s coast.
Brazen acts of piracy, abduction and armed robbery against ships, their cargo and passengers by pirates based in Somalia have become quite the norm in the Gulf of Aden. With pirates currently holding over 10 merchant ships hostage in the region, international shipping associations have appealed to the UN to take urgent steps to battle piracy in Somalian waters. Considering that the Gulf of Aden represents “ a major strategic choke point” in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), the Navy had recently asked the Defence Ministry to vest its chief with the decision to promptly dispatch warships after pirates. But the Government view, after consultations in the wake of the MT Stolt Valor hijack, is that Indian warships cannot intervene in Somalian waters because of UNSC resolution 1816, adopted on June 2.
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