Faced with increasing incidents of pirate attacks, the government is considering allowing armed guards to be deployed on Indian merchant ships to enable them to retaliate in case of an attempt by sea brigands to take over the vessels.

Sources in the Indian Navy today said the government is considering a shipping ministry proposal which talks about allowing armed guards to man merchant ships in order to protect them from pirates.

They said a decision on this issue would be taken after discussions among ministries of law, defence and shipping.

The armed guards on the ships would be somewhat similar to the Sky Marshals deployed on commercial aircraft to prevent hijacking attempts, the sources said.

Under the current Indian and international laws, civilian mariners are not allowed to carry fire arms but in recent times, various countries such as Malta and Yemen have reportedly allowed merchant ships to deploy armed guards on board ships.

The proposal, they said, is being supported by the Navy as it would help in increasing the safety of ships while operating in high seas against pirate attacks.

"The Rules of Engagement (RoE) and laws in this regard would be framed in consultation with the Navy only," they added.

They said in the recent past, there have been various instances in piracy-prone areas where merchant ships on their own have thwarted attempts by sea brigands to take over their ships.

"Having armed guards on board would further help in enhancing their security," they added.

On the problems while dealing with arrested pirates, officials said there were no laws to deal with them in the country and they have to be arrested under charges of attempt to murder and trying to damage government property.

The government is working on a tough law to deal with the piracy problem.

At present, piracy is dealt with under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code and century-old Admiralty law but the government would like to have a separate statute with provisions to effectively tackle the problem that takes place far away from Indian shores.

Ruling out India being part of any US-led task force to counter piracy, they said: "We would be willing to part of any joint effort under a UN mandate only."

India is one of the countries carrying out independent anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea where several multi-nation groups are also operating to safeguard the merchant vessels passing from there.