Sify News
Thursday, May 12, 2011
The navies of several countries, including India, are already operating in the piracy-affected regions under several commands.
'A UN-led naval force could provide a more equitable, efficient and better co-ordinated protection to all ships, notwithstanding their flag, the nationality of the sailors or cargo distribution,' a representative of the Indian delegation said at the 89th Maritime Safety Committee meeting of the International Maritime Organisation in London Wednesday, according to officials here.
The three-member delegation representing India noted that if UN peacekeepers are accepted and utilised in enforcing peace on land, there is no reason why UN peacekeepers on the seas should not be an acceptable concept.
Besides, India emphasised the need to seriously consider steps for effective sanitisation of the Somali coastline.
'All vessels, irrespective of their type or size leaving the Somali coast may be monitored through tracking devices. We also need to identify shipping lanes and earmark buffer zones as 'no-go areas' for all vessels, barring bonafide merchant traffic,' the Indian delegation said.
India further urged the need to complement the efforts of the navies at sea by focusing on pirate leaders and financers as the pirates caught at sea are merely the foot soldiers, driven essentially by poverty ashore.
'It is the financiers and pirate leaders that need to be tracked and hunted down by following the money trails that fuel their operations. It is time that we recognize that piracy has become an internationally organised crime and needs to be tackled as such. This will involve sharing of intelligence, profiling of the pirate groups and identification of their facilitators inside Africa and on other continents,' the Indian delegation said.
It noted India has a round-the-clock maritime administration communication centre which closely co-ordinates with all Indian interests, the Indian Navy and other relevant agencies in the region to obviate piracy incidents.
The centre also shares and disseminates piracy-related information to all Indian interests and the international co-ordinators.
The Indian delegation pointed out that anti-piracy measures have been made mandatory on all Indian ships transiting through the piracy-infested waters, while the Indian Navy provides escort to convoys of ships of all countries - over 1,400 since 2008.
They also regretted that the 'War Zone Limits' have been extended beyond the existing boundary of 65 degrees East longitude to 78 degrees East, or right upto the territorial waters on this country's western coast, adding this has a direct implication to the transaction cost of commodities to the Indian ports.
The delegation urged that since there have been no piracy attacks reported for the past two months within 500 nautical miles from the Indian coast, it is imperative to reduce the eastern boundary of the war zone to an appropriate longitude if not brought back to the earlier limit of 65 degrees East.
An official of the Directorate General of Shipping released the opening remarks made by the Indian delegation at the conference, but could not identify the officials who spoke on the occasion.
Source: Sify News