MEA Summons US Diplomat to Protest Missile Attack on Tanker Carrying Indians; Kashmir Activist Khurram Parvez Gets Bail After Four Years; India Holds Back Approvals of Starlink Project
India’s quiet privatisation of grain stocks at a time of global food crisis; Why did Penguin India drop plans to distribute Joe Sacco's book on Muzaffarnagar riots?
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Snapshot of the day
June 10, 2026
Sidharth Bhatia
Twenty-four Indians were aboard the Settebello tanker vessel when the United States struck it with a missile off Oman's coast today, and according to the external affairs ministry three of them are missing. Unlike with the American attack Monday on the MT Marivex that also carried Indian crew, the ministry today summoned the US's deputy chief of mission in New Delhi, Jason Meeks, to protest the attack on the Settebello (ambassador Sergio Gor is in Kazakhstan) and publicly condemned it, though it again did not name the US in its statement. “The continuing incidents of attacks on shipping in the region are deeply worrisome and a direct result of the ongoing conflict in the region,” India said, calling for a halt to such attacks and for de-escalation (What caused these tensions too did not find mention, as has been the case since February 28).
Yesterday, a day after the US military acknowledged attacking the Marivex saying the vessel was trying to evade its blockade of Iranian ports, the external affairs ministry had echoed the American account of the incident, saying the Marivex was ‘disabled’ and had been contacted by the US Navy but neither naming nor criticising the action. The defence ministry used the terms missile attack but also did not mention or criticise America.
According to a report by the BBC, crew members aboard the tanker Marivex repeatedly appealed for urgent assistance after the strike. “US Navy attack, the missile on our engine room. We have a hole at the bottom... 24 crew. All crew Indian. Please help quickly, we need immediate help,” a crew member said in a distress call shared by the Forward Seamen’s Union of India (FSUI).
Having spent four and a half years in pre-trial jail now, the Kashmiri human rights defender Khurram Parvez was granted bail today by the Delhi high court, which cited his prolonged incarceration and the slow progress of trial in the National Investigation Agency’s case against him. As the prosecution proposes to examine 197 witnesses in its case – alleging that Parvez ran a network of workers for the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba terrorist outfit – a speedy trial is unlikely, the bench comprising Justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja noted, adding that much of the case against the activist relies on the statements made by a co-accused-turned-approver. Parvez’s arrest has attracted global opprobrium.
Inflows into Indian equity mutual flows in May slackened by 40% compared to April – amid concern over the West Asia conflict’s impact on an energy imports-dependent India – marking the highest drop in three years.
