Subhajit Makhal: Burcad Badeed is a Somali word for pirates. Somalia an easternmost country on mainland Africa is situated on the peninsula known as Horn Of Africa. Somalia bordered by Gulf of Aden in the North, Djibouti in North-West, Ethopia in the West and Kenya in the South West. The eastern part is guarded by the Arabian Sea. The country is not blessed with resources however the eastern part is exposed to sea. Famines, drought and civil wars hits the country periodically like unstoppable waves sweeping the beach. But Somalia although strucked by natural calamities was not actually so downtrodden before early 1990’s.The misfortune took place post civil war. The pre-civil Somali government took good care of it’s people. The central government of Somalia did a lot for the community mainly the fishing community. Somalia being an under developed country could not utilize it’s natural assets along it’s coastlines upto it’s fullest. Hence various foreign investors approached and invested in fishing sector of Somalia. When the Central government collapsed naturally it’s millitary also collapsed.
The Navy of Somalia was disbanded and hence Somalian coast became undefended. As a result foreign fishing vessels, ships came and started exploitation of Somalian marine life. Fish population went down drastically. The foreign ships, vessels often dumped wastes off the shore of Somalia. The Somalian fishing community became helpless. Civil war inside the country added fuel to fire. Native fishermen became angry. These fishermen in order to protect its own resources formed groups procured weapons mostly small arms like Ak’s, RPG’s and pistols. These pirates are fishermen and does not have proper millitary fighting skills hence they easily surrender when captured or cornered by professional navies.
The Somalian pirates use intimidation tactics to subdue big targets. The piracy occurs mainly during morning. The pirates with the help of smaller boats approach big merchants ships. As they come too closer the pirates bring out small weapons like assault rifles and RPG’s to slow down target ships. With the help of light ladders pirates climb on board the target ships and take all crews hostage. The pirates don’t inflict any physical harm upon the crew rather contact the ship’s owner or ship’s concerned bank and then hand over the connection to Somalian negotiator who is in Somalia for ransom money. The ransoming is very good in ransoming business and English speaking skills is too good. The negotiation goes on for a long period of time from days to sever weeks and even months. When the captured ship’s bank Or host country sends money through helicopter full of cash which it drops on hostage ship board. The pirates take over the cash and leave the ship as soon as possible. The Somalian pirates gets protection money from terrorist groups like Al-qaeda and it’s wing Al-Shabaab who in turn demands protection money from pirates.
The Somalia pirates is believed to get weapons through hawala. Terrorist groups sometimes capture leaders of pirate groups and through force extract money from them. It is believed that Al-Qaeda operating in Somalia had made huge money through pirates. Most Somali pirates are young between 20-35 years of age who manily belongs to fishing town. While the outside world view these pirates as looters and robbers the image of pirates in Somalia is similar to that of Robin Hood. Captured Somali pirates have often disclosed that they want money only and they have n intention of inflicting any harm upon the crews. In order to stop piracy most countries like US, UK European countries, Asian countries like Japan, India , China dipatched their navies to counter piracy in Arabian sea. Merchant ships and vessels hire private ex-millitary mercenaries to ward off any piracy threats.When pirates approach a merchany vessel they ward off by ejecting water through powerful water hoses. Naval commandoes like US Navy Seals, French naval commandoes and others played a great role in minimizing piracy. Our Indian Navy’s Marcos commandoes often capture pirates. Piracy has become almost negligible however resurgence of hijacking do occur sometimes.
২৪X৭ নিউজ বেঙ্গল এ সবার আগে পড়ুন ব্রেকিং নিউজ। থাকছে দৈনিক টাটকা খবর, খবরের লাইভ আপডেট। সবচেয়ে ভরসাযোগ্য বাংলা এবং ইংলিশ খবর পড়ুন ২৪X৭ নিউজ বেঙ্গল এর ওয়েবসাইটে। নিয়মিত খবরে থাকতে লাইক করুন ফেসবুকে ও ফলো করুন টুইটারে।
‘রঙ’ ছাড়া সংবাদ খুঁজে পাওয়া কঠিন। কোন খবরটা ‘খাচ্ছে’? সেটাই কি শেষ কথা? নাকি আসল সত্যিটার নাম ‘সংবাদ’! ‘ব্রেকিং’ আর প্রাইম টাইমের পিছনে দৌড়তে গিয়ে দেওয়ালে পিঠ ঠেকেছে সত্যিকারের সাংবাদিকতার। অর্থ আর চোখ রাঙানিতে হাত বাঁধা সাংবাদিকদের। কিন্তু, গণতন্ত্রের চতুর্থ স্তম্ভে ‘রঙ’ লাগানোয় বিশ্বাসী নই আমরা। আর মৃত্যুশয্যা থেকে ফিরিয়ে আনতে পারেন আপনারাই। সোশ্যালের ওয়াল জুড়ে বিনামূল্যে পাওয়া খবরে ‘ফেক’ তকমা জুড়ে যাচ্ছে না তো? আসলে পৃথিবীতে কোনও কিছুই ‘ফ্রি’ নয়। তাই, আপনার দেওয়া একটি টাকাও অক্সিজেন জোগাতে পারে। স্বতন্ত্র সাংবাদিকতার স্বার্থে আপনার স্বল্প অনুদানও মূল্যবান। পাশে থাকুন।
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