India is deploying unusual naval forces near the Red Sea to curb piracy

NEW DELHI:

India has deployed at least a dozen warships east of the Red Sea to provide security against pirates and has searched more than 250 vessels as Western forces focus on attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis, Indian officials said.

India has not joined the US-led Red Sea Task Force and has no warships there. However, it currently has two front-line warships in the Gulf of Aden and at least 10 warships in the northern and western Arabian Sea, along with surveillance aircraft, the officials said.

This is India’s largest development in the region, they said.

Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said India’s growing capability, interests and reputation warranted its assistance in difficult situations.

“We will not be considered a responsible country when bad things happen in the surrounding country and we say ‘I have nothing to do with it,'” he said at a public event on Tuesday.

Other countries have a naval presence in the region, including the United States, France and China, but Indian officials say India’s presence is the largest.

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Indian military and defense officials said naval personnel, including special commandos, have searched more than 250 boats and small boats in the past two months, boarding more than 40, as piracy returns after a six-year absence.

At least 17 incidents of hijacking, attempted hijacking and suspicious approaches had been recorded by the Indian Navy since December 1, they said.

Yemen’s Houthis have been attacking ships in the Red Sea since November, part of a route that accounts for about 12 percent of global shipping traffic, in a bid to support the Palestinians in their war with Israel.

A US-led task force protects ships in the Red Sea and has launched strikes across Yemen targeting Houthi forces this month.

But Indian experts said the conflict was spilling over into the Red Sea.

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“The Houthis and piracy have been disconnected. But the pirates are trying to take advantage of this opportunity as Western efforts focus on the Red Sea,” said a navy official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

An Indian Navy spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

The Indian Navy is doing classic police work, said Harsh Pant, a foreign policy expert at the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation think tank.

It rescued two Iranians and helped rescue a Sri Lankan fishing boat in the first two days of this week. In December, it helped two merchant ships targeted by airstrikes near India’s Exclusive Economic Zone.

Two Indian officials said Iranian Shahed 136 drones were used in the December attacks without blaming Tehran, which immediately rejected US accusations linking it to those attacks. Jaishankar visited Iran this month and raised the issue of maritime security.

“As a regional security provider, (the Indian Navy) is increasingly demonstrating the ability to be able to protect not only its own interests but also to give confidence to regional players that it is willing and able to shoulder regional responsibility,” Pant said. .