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Expressing concern over the recent attacks by Iran-backed Houthi militants on merchant ships in the Red Sea, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral R Hari Kumar on Tuesday said the Navy is “aggressively” targeting piracy and would not allow trade in the Indian Ocean region to be disturbed.
“We are committed to ensuring there is peace at sea. We will not allow piracy to resume. We are aggressively targeting it. We will not allow the Indian Ocean to be disturbed, especially with regard to trade. The job of a Navy is to protect peaceful shipping…merchant ships,” the Navy chief said.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the inauguration of the new building of Naval War College in Goa, Admiral Hari Kumar said India is the largest resident naval power in the Indian Ocean Region and hence it was incumbent that it ensures that the region is stable and secure.
“As far as the activities in the Red Sea, it is an offshoot of the Israel-Hamas conflict…The situation is not very good. The Houthis have been targeting merchant ships…that’s actually peaceful ships, ships largely belonging to either Israel, US or UK or Israeli owned. So, we have been escorting our own ships and they have been firing drones, missiles, ballistic missiles…at the ships,” he said.
He mentioned that there has been damage to the ships, but not any loss of life. “..there has been injury. So, this is an example where a conflict in one part of the world is spilling over to another part and also of assymetric forces…trying to disrupt trade, so that [they] can involve the international community to come in; the use of disinformation and misinformation and innovative use of technology such as drones,” Admiral Hari Kumar said.
Emphasizing about the “asymmetry” involved in such a conflict, he said, “It [assymetry] is quite evident between the cost of attack and the cost of defence, because the cost of a drone…is cheap, maybe a few lakhs, while the cost of a missile to shoot it down runs into crores.”
Stressing that the Navy had recently thwarted a piracy attempt on an Iranian-flagged vessel and rescued a crew of Iranian and Pakistani nationals, he said, “We are supporting all the merchant ships which are passing through the Red Sea and coming to the Indian Ocean region and vice versa. Primarily, we are looking at the Indian-flagged vessels, but we are also assisting any vessel that seeks our assistance…We have given a very clear message that we will not tolerate such acts, [which] make the Indian Ocean unsafe,” he said.
The Navy Chief said it was the Navy’s responsibility to ensure that India’s national interests in the maritime domain are protected, preserved, promoted and pursued.
“We have interests in the Gulf of Guinea on the west coast of Africa and extending through the Indian Ocean to the Pacific as well. So, wherever our national interests lie, be it diaspora, exploration, search for markets, resources or energy, wherever there is a requirement to protect these interests…we are determined to ensure that we escort our merchant men and ensure the safety of seafarers,” he said.
On a question on gender neutrality in the Navy’s ranks, Admiral Hari Kumar said, “We follow all roles, all ranks. Hoping that 30-35 years down the line, we will have a woman chief of naval staff speaking to you all.”
He added that the Navy is discussing with the Defence Ministry for approval of changing the rank nomenclature.
“Recently, we have got census from all the concerned people and we have taken it with the ministry for approval for changing the rank nomenclature like leading seamen, seamen class I, seamen class II, because now we have got women sailors also. Women cannot be sea-men. We are looking at naming them as nausainik class I or nausainik class II,” he said.
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