 There’s a multi-million dollar business that boasts of using the latest technology, has a wide reach, outclasses the best in the trade at their game, employs impoverished people, earns 20 to a hundred times more money than other ventures, has an annual turnover that has grown by 35 times over the last five years and whose bosses live in huge mansions and drive fancy cars. Impressed? Welcome then, to the world of Pirates Inc. – Somalia’s only booming industry.
The lack of coastguard surveillance since 1991 when Somalia slid into chaos, has rendered its vast coastline vulnerable to illegal pillaging of stocks and dumping of toxic wastes by foreign vessels. Deprived of their livelihood and confronted with the health hazards of toxic wastes, affected fishermen groups decided to protect their shoreline from pillagers and polluters. From poor fishermen trying to safeguard the means of their livelihood to menacing buccaneers with an operational spread of approximately 2.9 million square nautical miles, pirates have shown enterprising brilliance in converting a voluntary coast guarding phenomenon into a successful business enterprise.
Operating as far as 1,000-1,200 nautical miles off the Somali coast in an area stretching from the Horn of Africa to the Maldives islands, the Somali pirates hijacked 49 ships in 2010, with an average ransom per ship touching $5.4 million in the same year – 36 times more than the 2006 average of $150,000. Pirates keep 30% of these ransom spoils; which means, even the lowest on the rung make nearly 20 times more money in a single hijacking than Somalia’s per capita income of $600.
The two decades long conflict has left the Somali economy in tatters. In a country where more than half the population is living on less than $1 a day and no wonder that the extravagant lifestyles of pirates have made them icons for young children who are struggling to free themselves from the clutches of penury. While the ransom money has had a spillover effect on the local economy through a multitude of piracy-related activities, the piracy business has also opened up to include locals who can become partners by lending money or weapons for the piracy operations.
Given that the Gulf of Aden is one of the world’s most important Sea Lines of Communication (SLOC), navies from about 30 countries are patrolling the waters off the Somali coast. However, the large international naval presence has not deterred the pirates. They have begun to use heavy arms, hi-tech technology and have captured ships to use as mother vessels – and venture deeper into the Indian Ocean where the possibility of being tracked by navies is lesser than in the narrow Gulf of Aden. Pirates only need 15 to twenty minutes to board a ship - too little time for any naval vessel in the vicinity to react to a SOS. Once hijacked, the ship is taken to one of the pirate dens and anchored till the payoff comes through.
Piracy off the coast of Somalia received great media mileage in India concerning the release of Panama flag vessel MV Suez with a 22-member crew, including four Pakistanis and six Indians. Pakistani social worker Ansar Burney helped raise $1.1 million of the total $2.1million ransom demand through private donations and supported all the way by the Governor of Sindh, Dr. Ishratul Ibad and Ahmed Chinoy of the CPLC.
Consequently, MV Suez and its crew were released on June 14 after 317 days in captivity. The released ship came under a fresh pirate attack and began to capsize. What followed was an ugly Indo-Pak diplomatic row of allegations and counter-allegations involving INS Godavari and PNS Babar – both trying to help the capsizing MV Suez – with the two countries complaining of dangerous maneuvers by the vessel of the other. The drama notwithstanding, Burney deservedly became a hero in India.
Much media ink was spent on the Indian government’s inaction in this situation. On March 10, India’s Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna had assured the members of Rajya Sabha that the government would do everything possible to free the Indian hostages held by the pirates – numbering 53 at that point, including six on MV Suez and 15 on MT Asphalt Venture. He emphasized on backdoor negotiations through the ship owners to minimize risk of the hostages’ lives. Incidentally, 497 Indian sailors (onboard foreign-flagged vessels and Indian dhows) have been taken hostage by the pirates since 2007.
Today, India is one of the frontline states in fighting the menace of piracy. The Indian navy has been participating in anti-piracy operations since October 2008 and has safely escorted over 1,600 ships so far and disrupted more than 30 piracy attempts. Indian navy’s efforts have been lauded by the International Maritime Organisation through a special “Certificate of Commendation”, and by the Somali government which has allowed the navy to enter Somali waters up to 12 nautical miles (the U.S. and France are the other two nations with this permission).
However, a significant shift in India’s counter-piracy operations came about in the fall of 2010 when piracy touched the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) off the Lakshadweep Islands. Subsequently, the Arabian Sea up to 75° east longitude and the Indian Ocean were designated as “conflict zones” and additional war risks insurance were levied on vessels sailing through these zones; thereby negatively impacting transportation costs and security of maritime traffic off India’s west coast. At stake now was 13% of India’s trade, safety of thousands of Indian sailors, and the security of innumerable Indian dhows that sail to Africa and the Gulf. Also, in the post 26/11 scenario (when the terrorists had entered Mumbai by sea), India rightly worried about the possibility of piracy being used to offload arms or terrorists on Indian soil.
India’s Cabinet Committee on Security decided to tackle piracy more aggressively by granting full autonomy to the navy to deal with pirates – a move welcomed by ship owners across India and Southeast Asia. The Indian navy launched Operation Island Watch off the Lakshadweep Islands by additional deployment off the eastern and north-eastern Arabian Sea and successfully brought down piracy incidents there by 60% in the first quarter of this year. During the same period, it immobilized and/or sunk four pirate mother ships, captured 120 pirates and rescued a total of 73 hostages, including four Pakistanis onboard Morteza.
Being one of the very few navies that arrest and detain pirates, India decided to pass an Anti Piracy Law to exclusively and effectively try and punish the pirates. While most of the countries (including Pakistan) disarm and release them, enacting a law to prosecute pirates is indeed a very assertive step. However, these actions have hardened pirates’ attitude towards India. They have retaliated by detaining seven out of fifteen Indian sailors onboard the seized MT Asphalt Venture, despite the $3.5 million ransom payout, in order to pressurize the Indian government into releasing detained pirates. They also threatened to specifically target Indian sailors and vessels in future. It is important for the Indian shipping and seafarers’ communities to understand that it will be difficult for India to negotiate with the pirates and easily secure release of hostages as long as it aggressively thwarts piracy from approaching its coastal waters. Although India can legally enter the Somali waters for rescuing hostages, it is not willing to jeopardize their lives (39 Indian sailors are still in their custody) by attempting a forceful naval rescue; instead India is trying to secure their release through ship owners’ initiatives and help of the Somali authorities.
If piracy continues to spread unabated and infest the wider Indian Ocean – the world’s busiest SLOC that accounts for $1trillion worth of international trade carried out by 100,000 vessels – navies from India, China, Japan and the U.S. will enter these waters to secure their commercial interests, leading to many geopolitical complications.
India has the geographical advantage vis-à-vis the Indian Ocean. It has one of the biggest naval forces in the world, which boasts of successful anti-piracy operations off the Malacca Straits and the Somali coast. India has been actively trying to persuade the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) nations to work together to fight piracy, and has also deployed ships and aircraft for anti-piracy patrols in the EEZs of certain IOR nations. Given these, the country is set to play a leadership role in keeping the Indian Ocean waters free and safe for trade – a stated objective of the Indian maritime policy.
For Pakistan too, these waters are just as important for its maritime commerce. Given that many pirates have been caught with arms made in illegal ordinance factories in Pakistan, and given Somalia’s Islamist terrorist group Al-Shabaab’s linkage with Al Qaeda, piracy is also a security concern for Pakistan,. But Pakistan’s aversion to an enhanced role of the Indian navy in these waters is well-known. So is India and Pakistan’s propensity for uncalled for drama at the slightest opportunity. The question is: will these two sparring nations ever work together on any India-led anti-piracy initiative? 
Semu Bhatt is a Mumbai-based independent political analyst specializing in security and governance issues. She is co-author of Cost of Conflict between India and Pakistan and Cost of Conflict in Sri Lanka.
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