March 2, 2006: India has joined the multi-national Strait of Malacca anti-piracy patrol. These straits handle about a quarter of the worlds shipping traffic, and the multi-national patrol (mainly Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia) has cut pirate attacks considerably. The sea and air patrols are also on the lookout for terrorist activities as well. Joining the patrol is seen as India's way of getting involved with the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI). India has originally declined to get involved with PSI, which is a multi-national naval effort that spots and stops aircraft and ships in international waters, and searches them for illegal weapons. Aircraft would be forced down at a participating country. India did not want to be one of those participating countries. But now that it's on the straights patrol, it is likely to participate in ship searches.
