India with a backbone

Piracy off the coast of Somalia is only beginning to emerge as a news story in the mainstream media (MSM). Somali piracy in the Gulf of Aden cripples international trade: one tenth of world’s seaborne petroleum and 16,000 vessels pass through the Gulf of Aden. Insurance premiums for commercial shipping have increased tenfold this year. Some shipping companies have already decided to go around the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa) instead of going through the Gulf of Aden, thereby adding weeks to the voyage and increasing the costs of raw materials and manufactured goods.



A recurring theme of Mera Bharat Mahan has been the need for India to project assertiveness on the world stage. In the last two weeks, the Indian navy has flexed its muscle and successfully defeated Somali pirates.

According to this Associated Press report dated Wednesday, November 19, 2008:
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The ship… was crewed by heavily armed men, some carrying rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Behind it were a pair of speedboats — the sort pirates often use when they launch attacks on merchant ships in these violent seas.

What followed, officials said Wednesday, was a rare victory in a sea war against Somalia-based piracy that has become increasingly more violent, and where the pirates are ever more bold.

A patrolling Indian navy frigate [INS Tabar] quickly identified the vessel as a "mother ship" — a mobile attack base used to take gangs of pirates and smaller speedboats into deep water — and ordered it to stop and be searched.


In this Nov. 11, 2008 file photo made available by Indian Navy, Indian warship INS Tabar, right, escorts the MV Jag Arnav ship to safety after rescuing it from a hijack attempt by Somali pirates. The Indian navy says the INS Tabar dedicated to fighting pirates has successfully fought off an attempted pirate attack in the Gulf of Aden, sparking explosions and a fire on the suspected pirate ship late Tuesday, Nov. 18. (AP Photo/Indian Navy, HO, File)

"They responded on the offensive and said that they would blow up the Indian naval ship," Commander Nirad Sinha, a navy press officer, told reporters in New Delhi. Then the pirates opened fire.

… By the time the battle was over, the mother ship had sunk — the Indian gunfire sparked fires and a series of onboard blasts, possibly due to exploding ammunition — and the speedboats were racing into the darkness.

One was later found abandoned. The other escaped. An unknown number of people died on the mother ship, a navy statement said.

It's not the first success. Last week, Indian navy commandos operating from a warship foiled a pirate attempt to hijack a ship in the Gulf of Aden. The navy said an armed helicopter with marine commandos prevented the pirates from boarding and hijacking the Indian merchant vessel.
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Mera Bharat Mahan congratulates the Indian navy for taking on the Somali pirates - and winning!