New Delhi: Navy chief Admiral Mehta today called for a UN-sponsored arrangement among world navies to carry out anti-piracy operations to safeguard the sea lanes in the Gulf of Aden, even as India considered a proposal to send up to four more warships to the region to fight the menace.
"The government's stand has been that it would be better if we work under the UN flag," Admiral Mehta said, while talking about the Navy's efforts to increase the number of warships in the pirate-infested waters in the region.
"We will augment the effort, as required, to make sure that the safety of our ships is ensured," Mehta said.
"We can do this in many ways. We can do this by augmenting our own effort (and) we can do it by collaborating with other navies, who are operating in that region (Gulf of Aden). And that is one part we are looking at," he told NDTV here.
Stating that Indian Navy would not be able to intervene if foreign merchant ships were hijacked by pirates, Mehta clarified that it was not possible unless the Navy received a specific request in this regard.
"After a ship has been hijacked.....it is the sole property of the nation to which it belongs. And therefore nobody else can do anything thereafter, unless that particular country asks for your assistance to help in getting rid of the pirates. And you would then be involved or there would be some collateral damage," he said.
