This piece from Asharq Alawsat extols the effectiveness of the Indian Navy in sinking a pirate ‘mother ship’—Yay, India!—but that’s not why I’m pointing it out. Instead, there are two things mentioned in it that bear some thinking.

First, the article acknowledges that the Indian ship acted on suspicion about the ship, not a court verdict of ‘guilty beyond all reasonable doubt’. There were no lawyers involved, no judicial ruling, no human right campaigns. Instead, there was sufficient evidence at hand that permitted the ship’s captain to engage with full force, likely resulting in the death of several of the supposed pirates.

Second, the rules of engagement are still sketchy. The piece notes that while NATO may engage pirate ships, they have no authority to board ships that have already been seized by pirates. Further, not all nations have the same laws in place. There was a flap earlier this year, some may recall, when the UK government told its Navy to not take prisoners aboard as it might entitle the pirates to amnesty in the UK under current human rights laws. It seems the pirates might face too-harsh punishment if they were repatriated to their own countries! This, of course, has to be seen as the arrant nonsense it is. But if that’s the way the government’s lawyers are interpreting the laws, then something has to change in either the laws or their interpretations.

Piracy Watchdog Hails Indian Attack on Pirate Ship

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — An anti-piracy watchdog group on Thursday welcomed an Indian warship’s destruction of a suspected pirate vessel in waters off Somalia, where hijackings have become increasingly violent and the hijackers increasingly bold.

In a rare victory in the sea war against the Somali pirates, the Indian navy’s INS Tabar sank a suspected pirate “mother ship” in the Gulf of Aden and chased two attack boats on Tuesday.

Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, said he was heartened by the Tabar’s success.

“It’s about time that such a forceful action is taken. It’s an action that everybody is waiting for,” Choong told The Associated Press.

“If all warships do this, it will be a strong deterrent. But if it’s just a rare case, then it won’t work” to control the unprecedented level of piracy in the Gulf of Aden, he said.

The pirates have stunned the maritime community with their brazen attacks, highlighted by last week’s hijacking of a Saudi-owned supertanker loaded with $100 million worth of crude oil.

A spokesman for Vela International Marine Ltd., the tanker’s owner, said the company “took the decision to maintain no comment” on issues concerning the tanker, including the ransom demanded for release of the vessel and the 25-member crew.
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Meanwhile, the Saudi government says it has no role in whatever negotiations might be going on with the pirates for the release of the vessel, crew, and perhaps cargo. That, Pr. Saud says, is being handled exclusively by Vela, the ship’s owners. Pr. Saud, however, does not think that negotiating with the pirates is the right way to go.