Rajat Pandit/TNN
New Delhi, Oct 17: Powerful Indian warships have begun patrolling the Gulf of Aden near Somalia to protect Indian merchant vessels transiting through this vital trade route from pirates, even as the fate of the 18 Indian sailors on board the hijacked Stolt Valor in Somalian waters still hangs in the balance.
Sources said another warship has now been dispatched from Mumbai to replace INS Tabar, a Talwar-class guided-missile stealth frigate, which was already patrolling the Gulf of Aden to protect "Indian interests" in this "strategic choke point" of the Indian Ocean Region.
The presence of helicopters and elite marine commandos, trained for covert combat missions, on board the warships tantalisingly points to the possibility of a mission being mounted to rescue the 18 Indians on board the Japanese-owned Stolt Valor, which was hijacked by Somali pirates on September 15.
Defence ministry officials, however, denied that any such operation was in the offing. "The government has approved the deployment of our warships in the Gulf of Aden to patrol the normal route followed by Indian flagships during passage from Salalah (Oman) and Aden (Yemen)," said an official.
"The Gulf of Aden provides access to the Suez Canal through which sizable portion of India's trade flows. Indian Navy's presence in the area will help to protect our sea-borne trade and instil confidence in our sea-faring community as well as function as a deterrent for pirates," he added.
Effective measures to counter piracy have become crucial since as much as 90% by volume and 77% by value of India's foreign trade transits over the seas. The US, European Union and others have all deployed task forces in and around the Gulf of Aden to counter Somali pirates who have already attacked around 35 ships this year.
Shipping minister T R Baalu, on his part, has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, defence minister A K Antony and foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee to evolve a long-term policy for ensuring security to both Indian ships as well as "ships on which Indians are present".
"The government on Thursday gave permission for formal anti-piracy patrols by our warships in the region, which will be carried out in coordination with DG Shipping. The intention now is to work closely together with foreign navies in an international task force to thwart piracy," said another official.
Indian warships, however, cannot enter Somalian waters as of now since it would contravene UN Security Council resolution 1816 as well as the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), as reported by TOI earlier.
The UNSC resolution 1816, adopted on June 2, authorises 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".
India, at present, has no such agreement with Somalia. Sources, however, said efforts had been stepped up in wake of the Stolt Valor hijack to come to some sort of an agreement with Somalia to pave the way for "direct intervention" by Indian warships in its waters.
Though the families of Stolt Valor crew members have directly appealed to the Centre to intervene in the matter, it is the shipping company which is holding negotiations with the pirates. The pirates have threatened to kill the crew if their demand of a ransom upwards of $2.5 million is not met.
But while it formulates a concrete anti-piracy strategy, the government is sticking to its stance of not giving "blanket permission" to the Navy to undertake "hot pursuit" of pirates on the high seas, holding that the permission could be given "on a case-to-case basis" after "wider consultations" among the ministries of defence, external affairs, law and shipping on the international legal and diplomatic ramifications of each incident.