Our hands are tied, Navy reads out bureaucratic rule book to Sushma

HYDERABAD: External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj wants Indians in a ship at Aden in Yemen to be rescued, reacting swiftly in a way she does all the time, but a spokesperson of the Indian Navy has read out the rule book to her in public.
Sounding firm but polite, the spokesperson literally told Sushma Swaraj about some bureaucratic procedures that had to be followed before the Navy could go out on the rescue operation.
“Ma’m we need directives from you (MEA) to MoD to Indian Navy,” the spokesperson told the minister on Twitter.
The chief officer of an Indian vessel ‘Jag Prabha’ needed help as Subrat Shukla, the chief officer in the vessel tweeted to Sushma Swaraj about a dangerous situation they were in.
In an SOS message to the minister, he sought help from the minister to be sent back to India. His wife was also with him on the vessel and had got stuck in Aden. The ship is owned by a private company. As a matter of fact, from February 14, Shukla had been tweeting about their being stranded at Aden.

Responding to the minister’s queries, he said there were a total of 23 people out of whom were nine crew.
“Conveying your message to relevant authorities Ma’m,” the spokesperson said copying the spokesperson of the ministry of defence on the message to the minister on Wednesday night.
She was informed that the nearest Indian Naval warship was approximately 450 nautical miles East of Aden in Yemen. A minimum of 24 hours time was required to reach Aden.
Sushma Swaraj in her tweet had said: “Please rescue Indian nationals from this ship in Aden (Yemen).” She asked if they could be rescued and taken to Djibouti, another country, instead of being taken to Yemen. “We will not make any exception and permit our citizens to go to Yemen at this time,” she said. In the past, many Indians in Yemen had to be rescued.
The entire conversation between the minister and the authorities took place on Twitter prompting some to wonder if this sort of an operation should be discussed openly.
Sushma Swaraj then said she had requested defence minister Manohar Parrikar to rescue them all from the ship.
“We should all salute the Indian Navy,” the minister said as the captain of the ship thanked her for the help that she was rendering.