Maritime bureau head calls for pre-emptive strikes

8220;The problem in dealing with this kind of piracy is that once a ship has been taken hostage, there is very little that can be done as any action could endanger the lives of the sailors on board,8221; Captain Pottengal Mukundan, the Indian-born director of the London-based IMB, told The Indian Express. 8220;Which is why robust, pre-emptive action is needed against these criminal groups. We know where the mother ships are, the naval commands know where they are. But they need political clearance to take action against them, to board them. And that had been missing until now.8221;

The brief battle at sea between the INS Tabar and the mother ship on Tuesday evening followed similar fighting between the British navy and a mother ship, said Mukundan, whose organisation is a global nodal group to fight maritime crime and runs a 24-hour piracy reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur. 8220;We hope that there will be more action in the same way, going for the mother ships and increasing the risk and cost to gangs. Then we can see a reduction in attacks,8221; he added.

The spurt in piracy in the Gulf of Aden region was matched by a lack of naval resources as the few international fleets in the region were primarily involved in military duties, Mukundan said. The Indian Navy8217;s intervention could not have been better timed as it joined the efforts of navies from Russia, France, the EU and the United States, he said.

8220;There have been 40 attacks this year compared to less than a dozen in earlier years and 790 sailors have been taken hostage. As we speak, 15 ships are being held by pirates in a small area off the Somalia coast and 300 sailors are hostage. Already, two major merchant navy fleets, Maersk and Odfjell, have ordered their vessels to go around Africa and many others are considering this. This is unacceptable anywhere in the world,8221; Mukundan said. 8220;If we don8217;t take action this will escalate completely out of control and there will be a major international problem on the east coast of Africa.8221;

The entry of several navies into the region has also raised the question of co-ordination between them and Mukundan said that this was vital to cover the gaps in the security environment there. While the UN Security Council is due to discuss the problem later this month and offer guidance for the formation of a unified force, Mukundan said that this could be a political hot-potato as different navies may not want to be under a unified command. 8220;We can only hope,8221; he added.

But as far as India was concerned, the Indian Navy had done a 8220;lot of good work8221; in the little time it has been in the region as it had escorted 35 ships to safety and thwarted several pirate attacks, Mukundan said. 8220;A large number of Indians have been held by pirates until a ransom was paid and the families of these crew have suffered a lot. This should be the real reason for India to play an important role, send a very strong signal that this will not be tolerated,8221; he said.