Tepid Indian response, and no condemnation, to Indians killed by US Navy

“If three American merchant mariners were killed in an airstrike, it would trigger a round-the-clock political crisis in the United States. Yet the deaths of three Indian crew members in a US airstrike on a Palau-flagged tanker near the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday have attracted little international attention. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not publicly commented on the attack, leaving the response to a routine diplomatic protest by the foreign ministry,” said Brahma Chellaney, professor of Strategic Studies at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi and former advisor to India’s National Security Council.

He was reacting to the third oil tanker carrying Indian crew members hit by US military in four days this week. On Thursday a US aircraft fired two Hellfire missiles into the engine room of a Guinea-Bissau-flagged tanker off the Omani coast, sparking a major fire. Fortunately, all 20 Indian crew members survived. At least three Indian seafarers were killed in the earlier strikes.

“These are illegal actions even if the ships are not Indian-flagged. Our concern is that Indian seamen have been killed and no regret has been expressed by the US Central Command (CENTCOM),” said former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal while adding “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.” The US military would have known that Indian crew were on board the tankers. What prevented information-sharing, warnings and coordinated action?

The former foreign secretary was reacting to the statement by the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal, that “two of the vessels were sanctioned ship and one of them non-compliant ships", using language used by the US Military. The spokesperson reiterated the US CENTCOM’s statement that two of the three vessels were subject to sanctions administered by the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), while one had been classified as non-compliant. OFAC is the financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the U.S. Treasury Department which acts against vessels involved in violating U.S. sanctions on the sale of Iranian and Russian oil.

Not a word of condemnation has been expressed by the external affairs minister, the shipping minister or the defence minister. Not a word of condolence has come from prime minister Narendra Modi. “I checked PM Modi’s timeline expecting at least a word of sympathy for the three Indians killed in a US military strike. There is none. Not a condolence message. Not a public expression of grief. Instead, the timeline is dominated by replies to world leaders congratulating him on becoming India’s longest-serving Prime Minister,” noted a fact checker.

There was no condemnation from the All-India Seafarers Union (AISU) either; a statement issued by AISU expressed its deep concern over the attacks on merchant ships without naming the US military.

It was left to Iran’s spokesperson Esmaeil Baquaei to name the US in a statement condoling the death of the three Indians. “The brutal U.S. attacks on Indian commercial vessels which have killed at least three Indian nationals, stand as clear evidence of America’s ongoing policy of armed robbery and State piracy. We extend our sympathies to the families and friends of the slain Indian sailors and offer our sincere condolences to the Indian people and government. The international community must hold the United States accountable for its lawless conduct, which continues to threaten global peace and security while endangering the freedom of navigation,” read his statement.

Analysts point out that the Indian government's tepid response to the killing of three Indians by US navy, and the death toll could have been higher if the Oman Navy not rescued the sailors, is not just a stark contrast from the past, but also indicates that it believes the US's enforcement of Hormuz blockade is valid. Academic Christopher Clary cited two identical posts by two Indian journalists who seemed to parrot the US military’s statement. Comments to his tweet pointed out that Americans were unlikely to have volunteered the statements and that they must have been passed on by the Indian establishment.

“It's the CIA narrative that their blockade is the real blockade and Iran, which owns these waters with Oman, cannot allow ships to pass. When Indian govt itself is doing the CIA’s propaganda, these journalists are not going to challenge their master's voices,” reads another comment.