TN Naval chief seeks anti-pirate rules

Chennai: As the Navy gears up to celebrate the 1971 Indo-Pak war victory on Wednesday, Amar K. Mahadevan, naval officer in-charge of TN and Puducherry, spoke about the need to formulate rules and regulations to deal with arrested pirates.

While some navies incapacitate pirates by disarming them and give them enough water and food to go to a nearby place, there has been no formalised law worldwide. “After our Navy started anti-piracy patrols off Somalia, there have been minimal successful attempts of piracy. We have close to 160 pirates in our prisons and we are in discussion with the external affairs ministry regarding the prisoners,” said Mahadevan.

He added that the country has been part of the anti-piracy operation, Shared Awareness and Dec­onfliction (SHADE), which has helped a great deal in sharing details about patrol on the piracy infested areas.

While Mahadevan acknowledged that armed me­rchant ships was one idea that germinated during discussion on piracy, he said the Indian government had not taken any decision. On the recent floating arm­oury apprehended near Th­o­othukudi coast in October this year, the TN naval chief said the vessel was carrying arms and ammunition illegally.

“When Seaman Guard Ohio visited Kochi port, she did not carry any arms and ammunitions. But we kept a strict vigil of the ship even after she left the port waters and later apprehended her with illegal arms and ammunitions near Thoo­thukudi,” he said, adding that the people on board the vessel were under arrest and investigation is underway.

On the Sri Lankan fishermen straying into Indian waters, Mahadevan said the Lankan fishing community is small and the Navy arrests them whenever they drift into Indian waters. “It mostly happens near Park bay and also near Andhra Pradesh and Orissa coasts,” he said, adding that the Navy keeps a watch on people who try to use the fishing activity as an excuse to enter India.

The Tamil Nadu naval chief expressed hope that the proposed plan to develop its jetty at the Chennai Port would materialise this year and it could lead to bigger ships getting anchored in the city.
Further, he said that two Japanese ships on the way home from Middle East would anchor at Chennai port for two days in Dece­mber.