Surprisingly Slow Reaction

On February 27, this blog cited public sources about pirates commandeering an Indian ship off Somalia. We thought this was a matter for the Indian Navy to resolve immediately.

Today, March 9th, Hindustan Times reports of a plan to finally free the captive Indians.

Negotiations having failed so far, the Indian Navy is ready with a contingency plan to rescue the 21 Indian and 11 other sailors held hostage on a cargo ship by Somalian sea pirates since late last month. Only sketchy details are known about the February 26 hijack. The fate of the Indians is also unclear.

The navy was informed about the incident earlier this week. "We've been told that negotiations are currently on among the ship's Dubai-based agent, the Indian High Commissioner in Kenya and the hijackers," said a naval officer. "If we're asked to act, we will."

What in God's name are we doing here? Negotiating with pirates while the Navy twiddles its thumbs? How is it that the Navy learned of this only earlier this week, when this blog -- hardly plugged into high intelligence (!) -- was writing about this in February?