Doesn't say much for their discipline.Pakistan Navy personnel onboard PNS Babar shouted anti-India slogans.
Published: Sunday, Jun 19, 2011, 21:33 IST
Place: New Delhi | Agency: PTI
The defence ministry has handed over pictures to ministry of external affairs which would help it substantiate charges that it was PNS Babur which had indulged in "risky and dangerous" manoeuvres against INS Godavari that would have jeopardised the safety of its crew.
Sources said the defence ministry has handed over pictures of the incident which would help it prove that it was PNS Babur that had flouted relevant regulations on navigational safety by indulging in "risky" manoeuvres.
India had lodged the protest yesterday through the high commission of Pakistan in New Delhi. The ministry of external affairs in a statement had said the naval adviser of Pakistan high commission was summoned by the ministry of defence and "our serious concern on this incident was conveyed".
An Indian Navy official said, "Reports of aggression by INS Godavari are incorrect and based on misinformation." Some Indian and Pakistan nationals were on board MV Suez.
The war of words erupted just days ahead of the talks between the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan in Islamabad on June 24-25.
Pakistan had lodged a protest earlier with the Indian high commission in Islamabad over what it alleged were dangerous manoeuvres by INS Godavari which "brushed" its frigate escorting MV Suez, a Egyptian-owned vessel released by Somali pirates earlier this week after over $2 million ransom was paid for its 22-member crew including six Indians and four Pakistanis.
Pakistan also called the alleged incident on Thursday as serious.
A Somali court has jailed six foreigners including three Britons and an American for illegally carrying millions of dollars into the country to pay ransoms for the release of vessels held by pirates
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The cash and two aircraft were now the property of Somalia's government, he added.
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Elmi said the six might be able to buy their freedom.
Nervous govt pulled Godavari off routine mission to help MV Suez
Manu Pubby Posted online: Mon Jun 20 2011, 02:19 hrs
New Delhi : The diplomatic squabble over the “brush-off” between an Indian and a Pakistani warship in the Indian Ocean this week — with both countries lodging protests against each other — appears to have been triggered by the actions of an unsure Indian government that possibly reacted to shrill news TV reports.
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India pulled the INS Godavari, which was in the region on a routine international anti-piracy mission, off its regular duty to the aid of the MV Suez, which had six Indian crew on board, leading to a mid-ocean scrap with the Pakistani PNS Babur, with the two warships brushing past each other.
Pictures and videos of the encounter — which have been shared with Pakistan — show that Babur was deliberately tailing the Godavari so close that it brushed past the Indian warship’s aft. As the Pakistani warship — which was described by government sources as a “history-sheeter” with two earlier incidents of risky behaviour at sea — tangled with the INS Godavari, its crew shouted anti-India slogans.
The chain of events leading up to the brush-off began on Tuesday, when the M V Suez was released by Somali pirates after tough negotiations and the payment of a $2.2-million ransom. The vessel began its journey to Oman under the watch of multiple navies — as is the case with any merchant vessel in the pirate-infested waters.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Suez reported that it had been attacked by pirates again. The distress signal was picked up by warships of several countries, including the INS Godavari, which was at the time escorting a convoy of three merchant ships in the area, with 21 Indians on board.
Acting as per the international convention that has governed anti-piracy operations in the region for the past three years, the Indian Navy contacted friendly navies in the region to determine which warship was closest to respond to Suez’s call. Contact was also made with the US-initiated Combined Task Force (CTF) 151, a multination coalition of warships that patrol the Gulf of Aden.
One of the first warships that responded, officials said, was PNS Babur, which is part of CTF 151. The Pakistani warship declared that it was proceeding to escort the Suez. As per the laws of the sea, the other warships in the region then continued on their patrols, staying on alert for other piracy attempts.
However, late on Wednesday, apparently after repeated reports on Indian TV that a Pakistani naval ship had reached the Suez while India was “taking no action” and “letting down” its citizens on board, the government directed the Indian Navy to send in a warship to “establish contact” with the Suez, sources said.
The directive meant pulling the Godavari off its regular mission, and putting the warships of India and Pakistan in close proximity on the high seas — a situation that has the potential of turning tense.
As it turned out, the Suez, which already had several Pakistani commados on board, failed to respond to multiple attempts by the Godavari to get in touch.
Afterward, as the Indian warship sought to disengage and return to its original escort duties, the Babur brushed across its aft.
While the incident did not boil over to a more dangerous level, it will be up to the two countries to escalate the issue or resolve it during the foreign secretary level talks. Official sources pointed out that India and Pakistan have been negotiating an agreement on mutual avoidance of incidents at sea which was stalled after the Mumbai terror attacks. “Let us see if we can resurrect that”, said a top official.
negi wrote:It looks like bchod Pakis are looking for a fight ; I would say we should have given it to them , torpedoed the Babur for trying to ram into an IN vessel. Captain of MV Suez would have then fallen in line.
India pulled the INS Godavari, which was in the region on a routine international anti-piracy mission, off its regular duty to the aid of the MV Suez, which had six Indian crew on board, leading to a mid-ocean scrap with the Pakistani PNS Babur, with the two warships brushing past each other.
Pictures and videos of the encounter — which have been shared with Pakistan — show that Babur was deliberately tailing the Godavari so close that it brushed past the Indian warship’s aft. As the Pakistani warship — which was described by government sources as a “history-sheeter” with two earlier incidents of risky behaviour at sea — tangled with the INS Godavari, its crew shouted anti-India slogans.
Sometimes it's difficult to tell the difference between incorrigible stupidity, and malice.However, late on Wednesday, apparently after repeated reports on Indian TV that a Pakistani naval ship had reached the Suez while India was “taking no action” and “letting down” its citizens on board, the government directed the Indian Navy to send in a warship to “establish contact” with the Suez, sources said.
rahulm wrote:Now that most of the story is out in the public:
The news of pictures is true and will vindicate the IN. In addition to plenty of anti India slogans, vulgar slogans were also shouted. All of this has been captured on stills and video. Infact, the Pakis put on a great circus. Sailors lined up the Babur's deck and shouted slogans while our own stood by on the Godavari's deck with discipline.
From the time the incident was reported to the IN, it took more than 10-12 hours as it moved up the command chain, eventually bouncing between the MOD and MEA where "jurisdiction" was being decided. In the meantime, the Pakis scored the first media hit , portrayed itself as the victim and the GoI looked like the perpetrator and was in reactive mode warding off the GoP's media missiles.
The Godavari was first on site to assist MV Suez but was re-buffed. Remember, her skipper is a Paki. Since, the MV Suez did not show hostile intent she could not be stormed. It would have been criminal of the Godavari to just sail away so she did what she could which was to hang around.
After Babur arrived on site, the whole drama started where she came close and maneuvered aggressively close to the Godavari.
The Godavari has some stern side damage but is sea worthy.
This is nothing compared to the media circus that our own sailors who are part of the MV Suez will be made to say on paki TV.UBanerjee wrote:I mean- it was the Babur's (can anyone type these names seriously?) duty to be escorting that vessel as the nearest- there was no need for GoI to interfere everytime there is an Indian national on some ship somewhere in the world. The situation was, in fact, remarkably non-scandalous.
Of course in the eyes of the media this became "OMG PAKISTAN IS DOING WHAT STUPID INDIAN GOVT CANNOT!!!" in all capslock, helped along by dim-witted family interviews saying "Pakistan was like elder brother onlee".
Indian sailors will fly back home after reaching Pak: Burney
The 22 crew members, including six Indians, of Egyptian merchant vessel MV Suez will reach here before being sent back to their respective countries, Pakistani human rights activist Ansar Burney has said.
Burney, who has played a pivotal role in securing the release of the crew, hoped the return of the Indian sailors would be a "gift" to India. Besides the six Indians, there are five Pakistanis and a Sri Lankan among the crew, which was on Sunday transferred to Pakistani warship PNS Babar after the vessel started sinking.
"I hope this will be a good gift to India from my side. I love you all Indians, I love you all Pakistanis," Burney said.
"When they will reach here, from the next flight I will send them back to their respective countries," he said.
MV Suez was on its way to the Omani port of Salalah when it ran out of fuel and began taking on water in stormy weather. On getting a call for assistance, Pakistan Navy chief Admiral Noman Bashir ordered the vessel's crew to be shifted to the frigate PNS Babar, which was escorting it.
Of course, India will come under some 'special treatment' at the media tamasha at Karachi (PNS Zulfiqar will not dock at Gwadar, I am sure). That is a no-brainer. But, PN will also assign to itself the title 'Protector of the Arabian Sea'. That will redeem a lot of dented prestige among the Faithful after the PNS Mehran fiasco and make PN equal, equal with IN.chetak wrote:The plot thickens. This was why Godavari was not wanted at site.
It was a planned psyops from the very beginning.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/india ... ey/806122/
[/quote]shiv wrote:As the Pakistani warship — which was described by government sources as a “history-sheeter” with two earlier incidents of risky behaviour at sea — tangled with the INS Godavari, its crew shouted anti-India slogans.
XPost from TIRP http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... 5#p1113965I am more or less convinced that the increasing piracy close to the Indian coast, is a another facet of TSP's war of thousand cuts.
The pirates have amazing success in tracking and boarding vehicles and I will not be surprised if PNS assets assist them. I think I read it somewhere that insurance rates for ships near India are sky-rocketing.
From the point of causing economic damage, there is nothing better. The actors involved are all non-state. There is very little cost to the TSP and an asymmetrical cost to the Indian economy. Because this involves trans-national terrorism on the high seas, there is little which can be done to expose them. The hits will have to come under the belt.
Perhaps the Onions were being used to help Somali pirates...
I don't see the point. We issued a statement a couple of weeks ago stating "we won't arrest pirates as that'll lead them to target our ships more frequently". In my opinion, we should start sending those 80,000 page dossiers to Somali pirates. Poor sods wont know what hit them!chackojoseph wrote:India offers Naval help to Mozambique to fight piracy
The foreign fishing boat captured by the Gujarat police at Nandel, a small port near Una in Junagadh district on the Saurashtra coast on Sunday turned out to be carrying 14 Somali pirates along with three Yemeni fishermen.
The boat with 17 persons on board was seized and all the seamen were arrested after local villagers alerted the police about the presence of some “foreign faces” aboard. The arrested seamen were in a precarious condition, not having eaten anything for several days. They were first admitted to the Una hospital prior to questioning them. The police believed the boat had exhausted fuel and drifted towards the Saurashtra coast in high tide.
After their condition improved they were put under joint interrogation which revealed that while the Yemenis were genuine fishermen, the Somalis on board were all pirates who had seized the Yemeni fishing boat “144 Al Badr-2” and set sail before the engine broke down.
According to Indian Coast Guard sources participating in the joint interrogation, six Yemeni fishermen had started out for fishing early this month when they were attacked by six Somali pirates on June 9 off the Somalia Coast.
The Coast Guard sources said so far nothing incriminating had been found in their possession but it was believed that the pirates had disposed of the objectionable materials before being caught.
The police sources said when the security agencies approached the boat, the sailors on board had dumped a few boxes in the sea which is believed to contain weapons.
Seven day ration?shiv wrote:One solution for captured pirates is to release them on a row boat 500 km from Somalia with 7 days rations and point to the West and say "Somalia is that way". Give them some Paki Rupees as well.
Simply use Brahmos as speedy dossier-delivery mechanism and all will be wellAmbar wrote:In my opinion, we should start sending those 80,000 page dossiers to Somali pirates. Poor sods wont know what hit them!
Whatever happened to "walking the plank"?rajanb wrote:Seven day ration?shiv wrote:One solution for captured pirates is to release them on a row boat 500 km from Somalia with 7 days rations and point to the West and say "Somalia is that way". Give them some Paki Rupees as well.
One day is enough.
You cheapskate. You want to deny them 7 chapatis and a bottle of pickles? Where's your humanity?rajanb wrote:Seven day ration?shiv wrote:One solution for captured pirates is to release them on a row boat 500 km from Somalia with 7 days rations and point to the West and say "Somalia is that way". Give them some Paki Rupees as well.
One day is enough.
Ship owners should pay the ransom not the government, if we start pandering to all the demands of pirates we would need a separate budget for paying ransom.India failed to organise the ransom from private parties. The Navy and the government were silent for days even as sailors pleaded for help through the media.
Naval escorts are provided from among the International naval flotilla stationed off the coast of somalia. There was no need to send an Indian vessel to escort MV Suez since it was already being escorted, only after shrill demands by some mediapersons that government reassigned INS Godavari for this task. I think some of these mediaperson should review their reporting work and not commit the same mistake again. Dont try to run breaking news type report on hostage situation it will only encourage pirates to make more ridiculous demands.INS Godavari was despatched only after PNS Babur had begun escorting MV Suez.
Manufactured grievance
June 21, 2011 1:01:28 PM
Government should have ignored the rant
The unfortunate MV Suez episode has demonstrated the power of shrill though bogus reportage by an ill-informed media, especially television news channels desperate for eyeballs, over cold facts. Going by such reportage it would appear that the Indian Navy had deliberately refused to help the crew, among them six Indians, of MV Suez, the Egyptian-owned, Panamanian-flagged ship which was attacked by Somali pirates for a second time after its release was secured. This absolute nonsense, first floated by a crew member and his family, was given wide media publicity. It could be argued, albeit lamely, that crew members and their distraught families would naturally be prone to exaggerating their plight if only to attract the Government’s attention. But facts are facts, and those should have taken precedence over the bunkum that followed the unsubstantiated charge against the Indian Navy. If INS Godavari did not arrive to help MV Suez, it was because the Indian naval ship was far away from the scene of action and was escorting a convoy of vessels through the unsafe waters. Yet it did try to contact MV Suez and even changed course in the process. But failing to make contact with MV Suez it returned to its original course and alerted the Pakistani naval ship, PNS Babur, which was in the vicinity. As per practice, PNS Babur rushed to rescue MV Suez and its crew. This was in keeping with the guideline of the International Coalition Task Force that patrols the waters infested with Somali pirates to ensure the safety of ships. With PNS Babur completing the task, the matter should have ended there. Unfortunately, the Pakistanis, lacking in grace, seized upon the opportunity to indulge in their usual India-baiting and accused the Indian Navy of hampering PNS Babur’s efforts to rescue MV Suez. Worse, the Pakistanis claimed that INS Godavari had hit the Pakistani naval ship. Both the allegations should have been ignored with the contempt they deserve. Sadly, sections of the Indian media, more so television channels, swallowed the Pakistani bait and went hammer-and-tongs at the Government of India without bothering to check on facts. The canard now stands exposed: Video footage shows it was PNS Babur which tailed INS Godavari and intentionally brushed the ship.
A large part of the blame for this campaign of calumny rests with relatives of the Indian crew members who unthinkingly accused their own Government of inaction and then went to the extent of praising the Pakistanis. The accusation was amplified by the media and the Government was left looking indifferent and even callous to the plight of Indian sailors. The Government should not have bothered about such manufactured stories and, if necessary, bluntly told the ‘aggrieved’ families that nobody had forced their kith and kin to serve as crew members on ships passing through troubled waters. In fact, several advisories have been issued to alert Indian sailors about the dangers of piracy and the risks involved. It’s a shame that Indians tend to lose all sense of proportion and balance when they find themselves in a spot as has happened with the six crew members of MV Suez and their families. As for sections of the media which are constantly on the lookout for any tripe to boost their ratings, the least said the better.
So this is one of the duties of an elected Government...India failed to organise the ransom from private parties
he silly “confrontation” between an Indian and a Pakistani warship — flowing from the recent minor episode of the rescue from Somali pirates of the Egyptian merchant ship MV Suez, whose crew of 22 included six Indian nationals — won’t even merit a footnote in a study of India-Pakistan relations. But there has been a lot of noise, a lot of smoke without fire, and a lot of uninformed breathless television reporting, before which the Indian government simply keeled over. It was overwhelmed by the rush of events and their high-pitched media reporting. Since our bureaucrats are fundamentally trained to communicate only with one another, and only on file, in a situation deemed to be “sensitive” they tend to close shop and cite rules and precedents that might satisfy their superiors but does little to assuage sentiments in the public sphere. It is thus that India lost the battle of the waves to Pakistan when INS Godavari had a “brush” with PNS Babur, and there rose a cry that the Indian government was immune to the plight of Indian sailors aboard a foreign vessel on the high seas. Communicating in time, and in an appropriate manner, is not one of the strong points of our state system, which basically means the higher bureaucracy and senior politicians. Admittedly, such real-time communication with the public is a relatively new concept, while the mindset of the Indian state was shaped by the colonial experience and is still rooted in the 19th century discourse of power which held it foolish to let on things to ordinary citizens. Not communicating with the people arose from disdain for them, and that above all was the rationale for secrecy and confidentiality over the smallest matter. However, in a far more open world in which information, ideas and propaganda travel at the speed of lightning if not light, it does no harm to get your punch in first. Once beaten on that count, your side of the story is usually as good as dead. And then the narrative of the other side takes centrestage and becomes the basis for discussion and opinion-making. This is what seems to have happened in the case of the Indian warship. Its rescue-making efforts were not heeded by the trapped Egyptian vessel, which had a Pakistani captain. So it played an also-ran while the Pakistani warship took the credit for the humanitarian rescue, including that of Indian seamen who are presumably still under Pakistani supervision. In the process, the Pakistani warship also aggressively nudged the Indian military boat, presumably taking revenge for the humiliation the Pakistan Navy had suffered in 1971. The pity is that this sideshow played out just a few days before a scheduled round of talks between the foreign secretaries of the two countries. It is not inconceivable that in being aggressive, Pakistan’s overall plan was to manufacture an unpleasant incident before a round of talks. But this is nothing compared to what might happen if the six Indian crew are not released by Pakistan swiftly, as that would set off an outcry within this country, forcing the government into a crouch of sorts. Much of this could have been prevented if the Indian government’s public diplomacy machinery was proactive and shipshape. Its own narrative could have been built on an entirely different basis — say, one of courtesy and magnanimity to the Pakistani ship that took the lead as it was in closer proximity to the Egyptian vessel in distres