Posted on 03/21/2011 2:59:45 PM PDT by James C. Bennett
TV channels are demanding that the Government should pay ransom to free Indian sailors held hostage. We saw similar media frenzy during IC-814 crisis.
On December 8, 1989, Ms Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, who had become India’s Minister for Home Affairs less than a week earlier, was kidnapped by members of the separatist Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front. Amidst a frenzy of media attention, Prime Minister VP Singh buckled and sent two of his Ministers, Mr Inder Kumar Gujral and Mr Arif Mohammed Khan, to Srinagar. Despite strong warnings from Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and indications that Ms Rubaiya Saeed would not be harmed, the Government meekly caved in to the demands of the kidnappers, releasing detained terrorists. The entire Kashmir Valley erupted with calls for ‘azadi’. India continues to pay a heavy price for this act of abject surrender.
On December 31, 1999, India released three arrested terrorists, Maulana Masood Azhar, Omar Saeed Sheikh and Mushtaq Zargar to secure the release of passengers of the hijacked IC-814 in Kandahar. Maulana Masood Azhar returned to a hero’s welcome in Pakistan, founded the Jaish-e-Mohammed and masterminded the attack on our Parliament House on December 13, 2001. Omar Saeed Sheikh remitted $100,000 through a bank in Dubai to the mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Mohammed Atta. He was thereafter involved in the execution of American journalist Daniel Pearl. Mushtaq Zargar, a psychopath, runs the Al Umar Mujahideen from Muzaffarabad. During negotiations with the hijackers of IC-814, India was often urged to meet the demands of the hijackers, citing the precedent set by the Rubaiya Sayeed kidnapping. Irresponsible television coverage focusing on demonstrations by relatives of passengers added to pressures on the Government to yield to the demands of the hijackers.
In recent days sections of the audio-visual media have sought to whip up public hysteria by demanding ‘flexibility’ and direct negotiations by the Government with Somali pirates and even advocating payment of ransom to those threatening to kill four Indian sailors, working on an Egyptian ship and held captive. Relatives of the men held by pirates were mobilised. They asserted that if Government leaders can rob billions in scams like the 2G Spectrum scandal, they should have no hesitation in paying a few million dollars as ransom to the pirates. The media, of course, had no time or inclination to either study the complexities of the issues involved or the accepted international practice that Governments will not negotiate directly with pirates. These negotiations are invariably between ship-owners and pirates, with Governments playing a discreet role behind the scenes.
Responding to the Indian media’s frenzy, Egypt’s envoy in New Delhi, Mr Khaled el Bakly, bluntly stated: “Egypt is doing all it can. I am on the phone every day, talking to Cairo. But please understand it is prohibited under international law to negotiate with pirates. All that the Egyptian Government can do is to persuade the owner of the vessel to negotiate with the pirates.” Sadly, there appears to be very little appreciation and even less understanding in India about the international challenges that Somali piracy poses. There are navies of 21 countries, ranging from those of the US and its Nato allies, to Russia, China, India, Japan, Pakistan, Singapore, Malaysia, Singapore and Saudi Arabia, actively collaborating, to deal with Somali piracy. The UN has been involved, with Security Council Resolution 1838 of October 5, 2008 authorising ships to pursue pirate vessels into Somali territorial waters. India was among the first to deploy naval vessels to deal with piracy on November 23, 2008. Moreover, pirate vessels coming close to our shores have been challenged and attacked, with pirates killed, or taken prisoner. The efficacy of the policy of not negotiating with pirates directly has been demonstrated. While pirates continue to hold 53 Indian sailors captive, they have released 124 sailors since 2008 without our compromising vital national interests or international obligations.
Even the CIA appears persuaded that dealing with Somali pirates is not an easy affair. Pirates recently killed four American nationals when their demands were not met. Apart from the fact the writ of the Somali Government does not even extend across its capital Mogadishu, studies by the IMO, WFP and UN show that there are several other factors that result in poverty stricken Somalis finding piracy lucrative and rewarding. The livelihood and catch of Somali fishermen have been destroyed by uncontrolled fishing by foreign trawlers and by dumping of toxic waste across the Somali coast. Moreover, piracy has led to a new class of wealthy people, wielding power and patronage across Somalia. As of December 11, 2010, it has been estimated that Somali pirates use 35 captured ships for their activities and hold 650 sailors hostages. The time has perhaps come for intelligence agencies across the world to come together to work out strategies to covertly eliminate pirates and their patrons in Somalia even while undertaking measures to see that Somali fishermen are not deprived of their traditional livelihood.
Apart from the media frenzy on the need for the Government to be ‘flexible’ with Somali pirates, there has been carping on why enough has not been done to evacuate Indian nationals from troubled countries like Egypt and Libya. Complaints from well-heeled Indian tourists holidaying in Egypt about having to pay some excess fare for being repatriated to India from Cairo in specially chartered aircraft received sympathetic media coverage. While one can understand Indian taxpayers footing the bill for abandoned workers stranded in the Gulf, it is ridiculous to expect them to pay for the repatriation of tourists or professionals who seek employment abroad. While India completed the repatriation of all its nationals wishing to come home from Libya on March 12, most Chinese nationals evacuated from that country are still in makeshift transit camps in its neighbourhood. One hopes that norms will be evolved for positioning armed guards in Indian maritime vessels, to ward off pirate attacks. Legislation should also be enacted to give the Navy powers to seek out, capture and kill pirates in international waters.
One of the major reasons why the relatives of the passengers of IC-814 took to the streets in New Delhi was the less than sensitive handling of them by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. Similarly, the relatives of sailors of pirated ships have been forced to run from pillar to post because the Ministry of Shipping has no guidelines or machinery to sensitively handle the distraught relatives. Norms and procedures should be devised to ensure this is not repeated in future.
Good job India — in the future, all we should hear is that the Indian navy saved some ships from pirates and unfortunately the pirates were all saved, very sad, very, very sad, but unfortunate.
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