INS Sumitra: A Ray of Hope
-Commodore Milind Mohan Mokashi,
CO, Shaurya Chakra, Year:2015
“This Is India’s Honour. We Can Not Fail”
[Narrator
1]
Everywhere
you gaze, you will see the color blue. It could be metaphor or amusement to
know that color of the sky is also blue and the color of the water is also
blue. Nobody has thought that in the world of blur or water someone could pose
a threat to America’s Ship. On 12 October 2000, Ship of America was attacked by
the pirates or terrorists near the Post of Aden, Yemen. Nobody had imagined,
America will be suffered from the loss of 17 and 37 injured American Navy
Personnel. This would have been remembered if America hadn’t a setback of 9/11
in 2001. It has changed the vision of everyone that in international waters
there can be a looming danger.
Despite
these challenges, India has its tales to tell their people where our very own
country has given a ray of hope of being the true savior or Messiah not to his
people but the other people of another country as well. This is the story of an
Indian Commodore and his ship INS Sumitra who had saved the lives of 1621
people from the conflict area of Yemen. A Commodore who was later awarded the
Shaurya Chakra third highest gallantry award.
[Narrator
2]
Location:
Gulf of Arabia
Date:
March 2015
This
is the time there was a war going on between Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Newly
inducted INS Sumitra with his Commodore and 150 Navy Sailors were sailing
through the Gulf of Arabia and moving towards the Port of Aden. It was deployed
for the anti-piracy mission in this area when Commodore Milind Mohan Mokashi
got to know about the war of Yemen and Saudi Arabia. They have decided to save
the citizen of their own countries from a war zone. It was a matter of pride
and respect to prove that they are the protector of their people.
After
getting the orders from HQ on 31st March 2015, He and his XO started planning
and preparing for the evacuation plan. Cabins were emptied by the navy
personnel for the citizens and it was decided that food was first to be given
to civilians and after that, they would eat as the ration was limited. A
separate cabin was made for the medical treatment of the people who have
medical people.
[Narrator
1]
Commodore
deployed a team of 8 Marcos on a boat to sanitize the threat of the suspicious
boat or for anti-terrorist activities. Navy personnel with a weapon had been
ordered to be alert to tackle the terrorist attack. On the afternoon of 31st
March 2015, INS Sumitra was just 50 km away from the Port of Aden. They could
see the devastation that was happening there. The Port was already closed by
Saudi Arabia and controlling the space area of the port and INS Sumitra was
just 22 km away from the port. Commodore was waiting for permission from Saudi
Arabia. However, Permission from Saudi was not possible and diplomats of India
in Yemen were not present at the port.
However,
an Indian citizen was working as a school principal who has accepted the post
of the honorary council of India. Commodore contacted the principal about the
situation and told him that ship was moving toward the port and it will be
difficult to use boats after 5:30 pm. Permission was not granted and the night
was fallen. Commodore decided to move forward and with his troops. Marcos has
docked their boat at the port and they informed the commodore that they need to
evacuate the civilians as soon as possible.
[Narrator
2]
INS
Sumitra was 6 km away from the port when Commodore receives the information
that 350 Indian citizens had been hiding in a container and its way beyond the
capability of INS Sumitra. At 7;45 p.m., INS Sumitra docked at port. Seeing the
warship of India at port Yemen authority person came ahead and talked with
Commodore.
Yemen
Personnel ordered, “They have to board every Citizen in next 45 minutes at
leave from here”.
They
had 45 minutes to let the 350 people board and then leave the port. A major
problem was the threat of terrorists going on board would destroy the ship.
Meanwhile, Commodore received the call from the Navy HQ to leaving the port
with Indian citizens as soon as possible. Commodore was confident and firm to
evacuate his people and instructed the naval personnel to handle them with
care.
Commodore
instructed, “They have to leave their business, jobs, and everything. Every
naval personnel should behave politely, nobody will scream, shout and get angry
at them. Some of them our children and old people. Treat them as their family
members who are facing this problem”.
After
completing the instruction Commodore shouts with a cry, “Gentlemen Let’s Bring
Our People Home”.
After
filling the navy personnel with courage, the process of boarding the people
started. After scanning the luggage, it had been kept at one place of the ship.
Every Photo is clicked and checking had been done. Two old women had been
selected to check the women for security as there are no women in the navy
warship.
[Narrator
1]
There
were two layers of safeguarding INS Sumitra. The outer layer was protected by
the team of 8 Marcos whose task was to neutralize the vessel or boat that is a
threat to INS Sumitra. The inner layer would be guarded and eyes were kept by
the QRT team of Weapon laced Navy Officers.
Doctors
present at the Warship started checking the people with a disease like
diabetes, heart or who needs medical attention. People had been provided with
food, water, and drink. The kitchen of the warship has to provide food for 500
people. So, they decided that the first civilian will be provided with the food
and after that, navy personnel would eat food. Nobody would touch the food
before every people of India had finished their food. Also, the cabins were
already vacated by non-commissioned or commissioned officers for the people of
India.
After
the boarding of the last passenger, Marcos and the QRT team boards INS Sumitra
and Our Ray of Hope INS Sumitra start moving from Port of Aden. It sailed
throughout the night to move out of the war zone. People of India slept
peacefully in INS Sumitra after so many days.
On
1 April 2015 at 7:00 a.m., INS Sumitra reached Djibouti, the Horn of Africa,
Gulf of Arabia where Foreign Minister of India, General V.K. Singh (Rtd.) was
waiting to welcome the People of India. This information to evacuating the
People of India had been spread all over the world through media. Photos of the
naval personnel were shared over social media.
[Narrator
2]
Location:
Djibouti
Time:
Noon, 1 April 2015
INS
Sumitra was prepared to restock, Crew had merely relaxed for 2-3 hours that
they received an order to rescue the People of India from another port city of
Yemen Al Hudaydah, it was already been bombarded by Saudi Arabia where the
people of India were working in the dairy factory. Commodore Mokashi Sailed to
Al Hudaydah.
It was
difficult to reach this port as it was instructed to stay and leave the port
from morning to evening. Also, Commodore doesn’t have the navigational map for
this port to reach. They only just have the order to evacuate the People of
India. They didn’t know that this port has been captured by the rebels of Houthi.
On 2 April 2015, INS Sumitra reached this port.
The
team of Marcos was the first to dock at this port and cordon the area for
security purposes. INS Sumitra docked at the port which was the most dangerous
place at that time. Rebels of Houthi started coming towards the warship of
India. The Marcos and Navy Personnel got alerted by them. Commodore instructed
his men to let their gun down and boarded out the warship and started moving
towards them.
Commodore
politely told them, “We don’t have anything to do with their internal matter.
We had come to evacuate the People of India. I promise we won’t interfere in
their internal matter.” He further sternly told them, “If they lay a single
finger or a single scratch has been done by you. I promise! Not Yemen even
Houthi name will be wiped out from the World”.
Rebel
of Houthi was stunned by the declaration of Indian Commodore and discuss with
each other and informed, “You had 4 hours to evacuate from this place. We don’t
want to see you and your face after 4 hours”.
After
this Rebel of Houthi left from there and Commodore ordered to start the process
of screening and boarding of the People of India. It took more than 4 hours to
board all the people of India and night had already fallen. After the boarding
of the last person. INS Sumitra started sailing from Al Hudydah. Commodore
instructed the XO to increase the speed up to 25 knots that are 46 km/hour to
leave this port as soon as possible. People started helping the crew and
children were playing seeing the ship sailing for the first time.
On the
night of 3 April 2015, INS Sumitra with 317 People of India reached Djibouti,
Horn of Africa, Gulf of War.
[Narrator
1]
After
this INS Sumitra was instructed to evacuate the People of India from Ash Shishr
where thousands of Indian citizens work for the Petro Masil Oil Terminal. Al
Mukala was captured by the terrorist group Al Qaeda and it was 60 km away from
the Ash Shishir. Maps and satellite images of Ash Shishir had been shared by
the Navy HQ of Delhi. INS Sumitra reached Ash Shishir on 5 April 2015, there
was no aircraft facility and no area for the dock. Commodore decided to dock
the INS Sumitra near the port and people would board through boats. It was very
dangerous to board people with boats due to security reasons and anything could
be done.
Marcos
team cordon area and QRT team of Navy hold their position to safeguard the
people of India throughout the process of evacuation. The goodwill of India to
evacuate the people has been vastly spread and INS Sumitra had been instructed
to evacuate the people of Western Country or other countries as well. This also
means the more looming danger for the evacuation process. The team of Marcos
got aware of the boats which were unidentifiable whether they are civilians,
fishermen, or terrorists.
The
Team Leader of Marcos told his team to be prepared for the action. They hold
the rifles towards their boats. In few hours, the most dangerous rescue mission
had been put in action Indian Navy Officers let the 203 people boarded INS
Sumitra by using 2 boats. During the evacuation process Team of Marcos and QRT
didn’t let the finger slide down from the trigger to safeguard the civilians.
Seeing the mighty power of the Indian Navy, unidentified boats try to come
close but stopped in mid. After completing the boarding, process, INS Sumitra
sailed through the ocean to their safe destination. On 7 April 2015, INS
Sumitra reached Djibouti, the Horn of Africa, Gulf of Africa where INS Sumitra
was welcomed by its friends INS Tarksah and INS Mumbai had been reached there
to assist its friend INS Sumitra.
[Narrator
2]
After
so many days the crew of INS Sumitra had got the opportunity to relax. They got
in touch with their family members and let them know that they do not have to
worry about the danger looming over them. They would come back soon. On 9 April
2015, under the leadership of Commodore Mokashi INS Sumitra evacuates 349
civilians and on 15 April 2015, 403 civilians had been evacuated.
During
this period INS Sumitra had successfully evacuated 1621 civilians from which
some of them belong to the 26 different nations. It was an irony for the people
of Pakistan that they were also rescued by us without any sentiment of hatred.
Commodore was not aware of the elderly citizen of Pakistan until they
introduced themselves to him to thank him. He politely informed me that he was
doing his job.
On
Independence Day 2015, Commodore Mokashi was awarded the Shaurya Chakra for
unparalleled valor, conspicuous gallantry, bold and daring decisive actions
beyond the call of duty. Also, INS Sumitra became the Presidential Yacht during
the International Fleet Review and received a unit citation in 2016.
It’s a
beautiful narrative that people forget over and over, but Soldiers like Captain
Mokashi always set an example and give assurance that they are always standing
before us to face the adversary. We should be always thankful for their
services. We truly are indebted and fill us with pride.
When I
read this story in a book. I was overwhelmed. Now I am awestruck to relive this
moment again by expressing my views on it.
It was rightly said by Captain Mokashi during the
Rescue Mission, “This Is India’s Honour. We Can Not Fail”.
