Parrikar’s comments weaken case for removal of piracy high risk area off Indian shores - The Times of India
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Defence minister Manohar Parrikar’s comment that Somali pirates are “shifting their locations” towards India has punched a hole in the country’s ongoing case in international forums for a rollback of the extended piracy “high risk area (HRA)” that covers the entire Arabian Sea. (...)
“It weakens our stand that the HRA zone should revert to west of 65 degree east longitude because the piracy threat remains widespread off Somalia, Oman, Yemen and Gulf of Aden. It was in June 2010 that the HRA was extended eastwards till 78 degree east longitude,” said an official.
What strengthens India’s case is that there has been no piracy attack east of the 65 degree longitude, or within 450 nautical miles of the Indian coast, since April 2012 due to sustained anti-piracy patrols by the Coast Guard and Navy.