New Delhi has summoned the US Chargé d’Affaires for the second time this week after a third tanker with Indian crew members was targeted
India has demanded that Washington take measures to protect the lives of civilians after repeated US attacks on merchant ships off the coast of Oman.
India’s concern was conveyed to US Chargé d’Affaires Jason Meeks, who was summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi for the second time this week.
New Delhi registered its “strong protest” over the continuing attacks with Meeks, the ministry said in a statement. Conveying its condemnation of the use of lethal force against civilian shipping, Meeks was told to “convey India’s strong concerns to his authorities and to ensure that US forces operating in the region take all necessary measures to prevent the loss of civilian life.”
Meeks, the deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in New Delhi, was first summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs on Wednesday after three Indian crew members on board the MV Settebello were killed when US forces fired at it for allegedly trying to run the blockade around Iran.
Speaking earlier on Friday, a ministry spokesman demanded: “These attacks must cease” and called for dialogue and diplomacy for a return to peace.
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Diplomatic circles have called the US actions illegal, and domestic pressure has mounted on the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stand up to the United States after another ship, the MV Jalveer, was fired at on Thursday. It was the third such attack this week.
None of the ships involved were sailing under the Indian flag, but their crew were mostly from the South Asian nation, and US attacks are seen as disproportionate in the country. India has the world’s second-largest seafaring workforce, and the attacks endanger Indians working aboard merchant ships more than those from other nationalities.
Kanwal Sibal, a former foreign secretary, was unequivocal in his criticism of the US actions and India’s lack of a strongly-worded response. “These are illegal actions even if the ships are not Indian-flagged,” he posted on X.
“If India and the US cooperate on maritime security in the Indian Ocean, hold elaborate naval exercises, subscribe to the concept of the Indo-Pacific, the US can’t be indifferent to killing Indian seamen in the Indian Ocean whatever the circumstances.” he added.
Speaking to RT on Thursday, Rajesh Sharma, whose only son Aditya Sharma was killed in the US strike on the Settebello, said, “They hit it with a missile, and that was not a way to control the cargo ship.”
“You can send your navy person[nel] to the ship,” Sharma, who lost his only son Aditya in the attack, said. “You can arrest the crew members. There are a lot of ways, but hitting a cargo ship with a missile is foolishness and madness.”
