New Delhi, Nov 21: With the threat of piracy
emanating from Somalian waters growing by the day, India is
keen to take on the sea brigands in their bastion and has
approached the government of the African nation in this
regard.
The Indian Navy has also established informal
coordination with the maritime forces of some other countries,
including Russia and Japan, in the Gulf of Aden pending a
decision on its proposal for deployment of forces in the area
under the UN mandate.
Three days after it sunk a "mother ship" of the pirates,
India today made it clear that it will undertake operations at
its own level to curb the menace in the Somalian waters as it
is posing a threat to international commercial cargo.
"There are two resolutions of the UN Security Council
1816 and 1838. Under 1816 countries that are desirous of
fighting piracy have this channel of writing to the Permanent
Representative of Somalia in the UN through the Security
Council," Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs
N Ravi told reporters here.
Detailing the procedures, he said a desirous nation
gets an acknowledgement saying that the Permanent
Representative of Somalia has received a request from a
country and the government of Somalia has allowed such nations
to enter Somalian waters so that they fight piracy.
"So far India's encounter with the pirates has been in
international waters. Our desire to fight piracy through the
UN route has been conveyed and confirmed through the UN
Security Council via the UN Permanent Representative of
Somalia in UN," Ravi said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Friday, November 21, 2008, 00:00