India remains “a net security provider in the Indian Ocean,” but New Delhi must also reckon with the region’s on-the-ground and on-the-water realities, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said as he made his first public comments on the sinking of an Iranian vessel off Sri Lankan waters that, according to the account he addressed, was struck by an American submarine.
Responding to questions about a second Iranian ship that docked in Kochi, Jaishankar said, “We got a message from the Iranian side wanting to come to our port. This was on the 28th. We gave the permission. They docked in Kochi in a few days.” He added that the sailors were young cadets who disembarked to a nearby facility and that the decision to allow docking was “a humane thing to do,” noting the other ship had been heading to Sri Lanka and “unfortunately didn’t make it.”
Speaking at a packed panel on the “Future of the Indian Ocean,” Jaishankar was asked by moderator Palki Sharma what the torpedoing of a ship returning from an Indian-hosted maritime exercise meant for India’s claim to be the region’s net security provider. He acknowledged intense online debate and warned that social media “is a forum for sharp, angular, sometimes extreme expression of views.”
Jaishankar said the Indian Ocean has long hosted external powers and bases, citing Diego Garcia’s five-decade presence, foreign forces in Djibouti and the development of Hambantota as evidence that the region is not limited to littoral states. “So… the Indian Ocean is not limited only to the countries of the Indian Ocean,” he said.
He argued India’s weight in the region brings responsibility and convening power. Pointing to the IOR Information Fusion Centre in Gurugram, he said the centre’s broad international participation “says something about the Indian Ocean and says something about us.”
Jaishankar listed regional institutions and partnerships — IORA, BIMSTEC, the Colombo Security Council and bilateral ties with Seychelles, Mauritius and Sri Lanka — as building blocks of a larger security architecture. He said India’s role combines presence with cooperation, and highlighted practical assistance in countering drug trafficking, resolving fishing disputes, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and responding to oil spills.
His remarks reflected official discomfort over the incident and followed comments on the panel by Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath, who repeatedly cited UNCLOS and international law. Jaishankar also invoked UNCLOS, stressed India’s adherence to international law even when rulings have gone against it, and stopped short of directly discussing the American submarine’s combat action.
Jaishankar warned that attacks on merchant vessels endanger Indian seafarers and civilians, noting fatalities among Indian nationals in two recently attacked tankers. He said India’s response is shaped by the safety of its 9–10 million-strong Gulf community and recalled that, during recent Houthi attacks on shipping, India deployed its navy in the northern Arabian Sea in coordination with the United States.
Original Source: https://www.firstpost.com/india/india-is-a-net-security-provider-in-indian-ocean-but-we-must-take-into-account-ground-realities-says-jaishankar-13987150.html
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Publish Date: 2026-03-07 16:37:00
