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UN set-up to weed out pirates called
New Delhi, Nov 19 : India today said it wanted a larger arrangement among naval powers, preferably under the UN flag, to tackle the increasing threat from sea pirates following the Navy warship sinking a pirate vessel in the Gulf of Aden.
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"We are (already) co-ordinating with them (other navies) to some extent so that we do not waste our efforts. But the eventual line, as the Government of India has rightly stated, is that we need to operate under the UN flag so that we can work in greater concert with each other," Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta said here.
Mehta said naval powers had already placed their ships in the pirate-infested areas to protect the sea lines of communication and there was a reasonable amount of coordination among them.
"That kind of a thing (international cooperation) is already happening. But as I did mention, the international mandate for naval men of war is that if you see this kind of an act (pirate attack) happening in international waters, take whatever measures you can to prevent that from happening," the Navy chief told TV channels.
He said there were a large number of warships at present in the Gulf of Aden region, pointing out that there were several nations with their own group of warships, such as the EU Group and the Task Force 150, for coordinating anti-piracy efforts.
Now, Indian warships too have reached there and so did warships from some other countries, who have gone there for protecting their maritime assets, he said. |
