United Nations, May 21 Countering terrorism on the seas and ensuring maritime safety are central to India’s national security and economic interests, India’s Permanent Representative P Harish said.
“India views maritime security and countering terrorism as central to its national security and economic interests,” Harish said.
But “India's maritime security strategy is broad and multifaceted”, he said, as it takes on "both traditional threats from state actors and nontraditional threats” from terrorism, piracy, hybrid threats, smuggling, human trafficking, and illegal fishing.
The threats from terrorism and piracy were of concern also for others who spoke at the Security Council open debate on strengthening maritime security.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said no country is spared from the scourges “from piracy, armed robbery, trafficking and organised crime, to destructive acts against shipping, offshore installations and critical infrastructure, to terrorism in the maritime domain”.
"And the problem is getting worse”, he warned.
Presiding over the session, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the prime minister of Greece, which holds the Council presidency this month, sounded a similar warning about “asymmetrical maritime threats, such as smuggling, terrorism, piracy, but also hybrid attacks which equally affect ships, connections, but also ports”.
Harish said, “India’s maritime security strategy focuses on strong surveillance, effective coordination, and quick response capabilities to protect its long coastline and sea routes”.
At the same time, he said, New Delhi’s “approach balances robust defence capabilities, regional diplomacy, international cooperation and domestic infrastructure development”.
He said it is underpinned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of MAHASAGAR, an acronym for Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions, which also happens to be Hindi for Ocean.
This promotes safety and cooperation in the seas and can be applied globally, he said.
As an example, he cited the Indian Navy’s response to shipping attacks and piracy in the Western Arabian Sea, where it deployed more than 35 ships, responded to 30 incidents, and carried out more than 1,000 boarding operations.
These saved about 520 crew members and others of various nationalities and protected 312 merchant vessels, carrying over 11.9 million tons of cargo, valued at over $5.3 billion, he said.
India’s Navy was active in protecting ships from attacks by Houthis and rescuing crew of affected ships in the Red Sea area, as well as guarding against pirates.
India carried out relief operations across Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam when Typhoon Yagi struck last year, he said.
Harish said India also works with other nations in ensuring maritime security, participating in joint naval exercises at regional and global levels.
One of these was a large-scale exercise last month with ten African countries, AIKYAME, the Sanskrit word for unity, formed by the acronym for “Africa India Key Maritime Engagement”, he said.
The six-day exercise co-hosted by Tanzania was held off its coast, and nine African countries from Djibouti to South Africa participated.
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