Three months after they allegedly shot dead two Indian fishermen off Kerala coast, the police on Friday filed a chargesheet against two Italian marines in a court Kollam charging them with murder under IPC and also invoking the International Maritime Law.
Asserting that "maritime muscle flexing" by some countries and other factors have made the Indo-Pacific region "more contested and more volatile," naval chief Admiral Sunil Lanba on Tuesday said that the Indian Navy has its task cut out as it has been a major security provider in the region.
Pakistan marine personnel allegedly opened fire on Indian fishermen, injuring one of them, near the international maritime border off Jakhau in Gujarat on Thursday night, and apprehended 10 Indian fishing boats on Friday morning in another incident.
India has the ability in all respects to be a great power and address our security challenges in the best national interests, says Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
Seven Indian sailors aboard the MV Asphalt Venture, who were taken hostage by Somali pirates in 2010 and were freed on October 30, finally flew into Mumbai from Nairobi on Monday afternoon.
The Coast Guard's latest and largest offshore patrol vessel, Samarth, was on Tuesday commissioned at Vasco Da Gama in Goa by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar who asked the force not to sit on past laurels and focus on securing India's maritime interests.
With the revision of the HRA, which was extended to include the west coast of India in 2010, some of the country's maritime security concerns like floating armouries and proliferation of private security are likely to be addressed, the Navy said.
In the second such incident this week, 8 Tamil Nadu fishermen were on Thursday injured and 13 boats damaged when Sri Lankan Naval personnel allegedly attacked them near the International Maritime Boundary Line near Katchatheevu, officials said.
The National Investigation Agency will file a chargesheet against two Italian marines, accused of killing two Kerala fishermen, after getting sanction to prosecute them under a law which provides only death penalty.
The USS John Paul Jones acted like a dog marking the lamp post, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The tearing hurry to form theatre commands has to be replaced by a balanced and deliberate approach. We need to accept that this process will take time if executed correctly and in the best interests of the Indian armed forces, argues Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
The accident occurred when officials and some others were on their way in four boats to the site of the proposed memorial of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, where work was to begin on Wednesday.
Addressing a joint media event with Macron, Modi said the two countries have robust cooperation in the fields of defence and security.
'Counter-insurgency operations cannot be conducted by following inflexible SOPs.' 'It is unwise to enter jungles with a large body of troops without precise intelligence,' asserts counter-insurgency expert Brigadier Narender Kumar (retd).
Pakistani ships in high seas can pose a jehadi threat, Navy Chief Admiral R K Dhowan today said, citing reports of an attempt by militants to hijack a Pakistan navy frigate in September. He said that threat of maritime terrorism is increasing and the force was prepared for it.
Pakistani Marine Security Agency has arrested an Indian fisherman from the Arabian sea and released the nine others accompanying him, a senior official of the National Fish Forum said Wednesday.
Sri Lanka on Tuesday said its navy would not fire at Indian fishermen even if they had crossed the maritime boundary and suspected the role of some "third party" behind the recurring incidents.
Notwithstanding the strain in ties, the navies of India and China carried out a well coordinated operation to rescue a merchant ship in the Gulf of Aden which was hijacked by Somali pirates on Saturday night.
At least 48 people, including many women and children, were killed on Sunday when an overcrowded ferry with over 150 passengers sank after a collision with a trawler
The navy had so far maintained that there were 273 persons on board the barge but an official on Wednesday evening said that the company which operated it has informed that there were 261 personnel on board the ill-fated barge.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday dismissed as "wrong reports" about firing on Indian fishermen by Sri Lankan Navy in the last 10 months, but said cases of some excesses by them have been taken up.
For the first time after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, an Indian coast guard team visited Pakistan earlier this week to discuss the issues of fishermen languishing in jails and coordination between the two maritime forces.
Iran's seizure of a British-flagged oil tanker was allegedly due to a collision with an Iranian fishing boat, Iran's official news agency IRNA said.
China's desire to have India as part of its ambitious Maritime Silk Route makes strategic sense for both nations. However, it would involve substantive assurances from Beijing, says Dr Rahul Mishra
The Sri Lankan Navy has arrested another 11 Tamil Nadu fishermen late on Wednesday night, hours after they apprehended 36 fishermen hailing from a village in Pudukottai district while fishing near Neduntheevu and Katchatheevu islet, a fisheries department official said.
A French Navy has rescued eleven Indian sailors from suspected pirates at the mouth of the Gulf of Aden. According to a media release of the Embassy of France in New Delhi, the rescue operation took place on January 18 off the coast of Oman.
A case against the crew were registered under sections of Maritime Zones Act, Suppression of Unlawful Activities Against Safety of Maritime Act.
The pirates have taken it northwards up the coast.
In fact, given the current tensions and massed troops on both sides, there is a danger that the LAC will become more like the Line of Control with Pakistan, a heavily fortified and strongly defended border where weapon fire exchanges regularly occur. Indeed, Stratfor Worldview research has listed a sharp increase in new Chinese facilities along the LAC in 2019-20.
Taking up the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister E K Palaniswami, in a letter, said the state government was "extremely" concerned over such incidents
The government has adopted a multi-pronged approach involving the Army, the Indian Air Force and the Navy as well as diplomacy and economic measures to send out a firm and clear message to China that its misadventure in eastern Ladakh was not acceptable at all.
The threat of maritime terrorism is real. What must India do to protect its eastern and western seaboards?
Coast Guard Deputy Director General K R Nautiyal alleged that the facts presented in the media were not factual
The defence minister told the Rajya Sabha that at the moment, "We cannot say conclusively about the exact cause of the incident. Our armed forces work on a war footing on these aspects and they are also anxious over this issue."
A "minor" fire broke out in one of the living compartments of warship 'INS Savitri' in the Naval dockyard in Visakhapatnam but there were no casualties.
With the latest arrest, the number of Tamil Nadu fishermen in Sri Lankan custody has risen to 61.
The Coast Guard has increased surveillance along the Gujarat coast, after a Pakistani boat blew itself off Porbandar on New Year's Eve.
In a midnight operation in the high seas, a Pakistani fishing boat said to be carrying explosives was intercepted by the Indian Coast Guard off the coast of Gujarat, but the vessel exploded and caught fire before sinking along with 4 occupants.
A Indian fisherman was killed and 30 others were allegedly kidnapped by Pakistani Maritime Security Agency, which took them away in five boats from international waters off Jakhau coast in Gujarat, a member of fishermen boat association said in Ahmedabad on Saturday.
The government has asked Indian ships sailing in the Malacca Strait and South East Asia to be 'extra cautious' and take necessary security steps in view of rising incidents of hijacking and robbery
