Deeply concerned about Red Sea, Gulf of Aden situation: MEA

New Delhi: The ministry of external affairs on Thursday said that India is deeply concerned about the situation unfolding in the Red Sea and parts of the Arabian Sea as attacks by Houthi rebels on commercial vessels in the region impact not only the country’s economic interests but of others too.

“Whatever is happening there impacts not just us but the economic interests and several other interests of so many people across the world. We are closely monitoring the situation,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in response to a question during a weekly press briefing.

His comments came on a day India’s guided missile destroyer INS Visakhapatnam swiftly responded to a distress call made by Marshall Islands-flagged merchant vessel Genco Picardy that came under a drone attack in the Gulf of Aden. The incident is the latest in a series of drone and pirate attacks on merchant vessels in the region.

The situation in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the violence there and the destabilised nature of things were discussed by external affairs minister S Jaishankar with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Tehran on January 15, he said.

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“We are deeply concerned about the whole situation. It’s an important shipping lane, not just for India, but for the entire world. We have our own interests there, which are being impacted. But at the same time, we have the Indian Navy, which is patrolling the area, trying to secure the sea lanes and doing its best so that our economic interests are not impacted,” Jaiswal said.

The Indian Navy has stepped up surveillance in the troubled region substantially and deployed task groups consisting of around ten warships following the recent attacks on India-bound merchant vessels, including MV Chem Pluto and MV Saibaba.

The Iran-backed Houthi militia has been targeting commercial shipping in the Red Sea with missiles and drones after the Israel-Hamas conflict began on October 7. The fraught situation in the seas is not to the benefit of any party, and this must be recognised, Jaishankar said at a joint press conference with Iranian minister Amir-Abdollahian on January 15.

On the former Indian Navy personnel detained in Qatar, the spokesperson said India was recently granted consular access to them, and the Indian ambassador and other officials from the embassy met the veterans and enquired about their well-being.

A Qatari court on December 28 commuted the death sentence given to eight former Indian Navy personnel earlier in 2023 and sentenced them to prison for varying durations.

The ruling by Qatar’s Court of Appeal came during the hearing of an appeal by the families of the eight men, who were detained in August 2022 on undeclared charges.

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Reports have suggested they were accused of espionage, though Qatari and Indian authorities haven’t provided details of the charges against them.

“The legal team is looking into the appeal aspect. There is a 60-day period within which they must file this appeal before the Court of Cassation. The Court of Appeal gave its verdict on December 28. We still have some time,” Jaiswal said.

India remains committed to taking forward its development agenda with the Maldives, he said, adding that at a time when the bilateral ties are under pressure following President Mohamed Muizzu’s call for the withdrawal of all Indian military personnel deployed in the Indian Ocean archipelago by March 15.

“We remain committed to our projects and to taking them forward. We have been an important development partner of the Maldives. We remain committed to doing all things that we can do as a development partner of the Maldives,” Jaiswal said.

Muizzu made the demand as the high-level core group set up by India and the Maldives held its first meeting in Male on January 14.

Jaiswal said the next meeting of the core group set will be held in India soon.

Also Read: Working with Tehran on the Red Sea crisis

“The core group held detailed discussions (in Male) on several aspects of the bilateral relationship. Both sides held discussions on finding a mutually workable solution to enable the continued operation of Indian aviation platforms that provide humanitarian and medical evacuation services to the people of the Maldives. The next meeting of the core group is to be held in India soon to take the discussions forward,” he added.

India and the Maldives agreed to set up the high-level core group when Muizzu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi met on the margins of COP28 in December.

The group’s meeting was held against the backdrop of a dramatic downturn in bilateral relations since the election victory last year of Muizzu, who has sought to move the Maldives closer to China. Following his return from a visit to China, Muizzu announced a slew of measures apparently aimed at curtailing the Maldives’ dependence on India in key sectors such as healthcare and food security.