Intro: After the recent sinking of a Pakistani boat off the Gujarat coast, Congress has been playing politics over terror and acting irresponsibly on the issue of national security.
When most people in India were celebrating the onset of the year 2015 according to Gregorian calendar, a suspicious boat infiltrating into the Indian maritime zones was intercepted by the Coast Guard off Gujarat Coast, some 200 nautical miles from Porbandar. As soon as the boat sighted the Coast Guard ship, it switched off lights and started manoeuvring to get away by taking evasive actions. Unknown to the boat, it had been tracked by the Coast Guard aircraft ever since it moved from Keti Bandar. The Coast Guard in turn had been alerted by the intelligence agencies that some suspicious cargo was being transported from Pakistani port to Indian coast. Consequently all communications from the boat were being monitored. As soon as the boat started evasive action, the Coast Guard ship directed the boat to stop and when it failed to stop, the ship fired warning shots in the air, as per standard operating procedures. As soon as this happened, four personnel, who were being seen above decks, went below decks and set the boat on fire. By the time Coast Guard ship closed the boat it was burning and sank subsequently.
At a time when Gujarat was hosting two major international events and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was expected to be in the state, the possibility of the boat carrying cargo or the terrorists that could be used to target the Prime Minister could not be ruled out. More significantly, President Obama is visiting India as the Chief Guest for Republic Day and a terrorist attack before or during his stay could have derailed the visit. It is worth noting that around the same time firing had started across the Line of Control and International Border in Jammu and Kashmir. The incessant firing clearly indicated that in Pakistan there are still numerous elements both within the state and outside, who have no love lost for India. It was therefore logical to assume that the boat could have been part of another Mumbai type terrorist attack. The perception gained credence as one unmanned suspicious boat had been found off Porbandar a few days ago and the aircraft also reported that there was another boat following this suspicious boat, which returned to Keti Bandar, when warning shots were fired.
However, some columnists and sections of ‘liberal’ media have questioned this version and have castigated the Coast Guard for destroying a boat that was smuggling some ‘insignificant’ contraband. They have claimed that if the boat was carrying explosives, it would have been blown to smithereens. They have attributed the fire on the boat to the firing by the Coast Guard and have tried to base their argument on the fact that the Coast Guard failed to recover any debris from the boat. They have also dismissed the allegations of any possible terrorist links and have claimed that the boat did not look like boats from Karachi and had not been seen by the local fishermen.
Without going into the motives of these reports, it is essential to sift facts from fiction. The visual of the boat that has been shown by the media time and again shows clearly the whole boat was in flames. A look at the visual shot clearly establishes that there were no high explosives in the boat.It also shows that the boat was not hit by any shell as the impact would have broken the boat or damaged the superstructure. The fire is seen evenly spread across the entire length of boat and this can only happen when somebody deliberately puts the boat on fire. The accidental fires or even those triggered are usually confined to the aft portion where the fuel tanks are installed. This clearly establishes that the boat was set on fire and not hit by a shell. As far as the cargo is concerned the Coast Guard never claimed that the boat was carrying explosives. It could as well be carrying arms, ammunition. It could as well be carrying some terrorists as, while four persons were sighted on top; many more could be below the deck. This could also explain as to why the boat did not look like Pakistani boat and was not seen by local fishermen. Obviously, if you are indulging in some nefarious activity, you would like to conceal the craft to look like local craft and will take a route, which is not frequented by others.
Most significantly, petty smugglers don’t kill themselves, they surrender, as they are used to going to jails. Even though, at times they do set their boats on fire to destroy evidence, they do so in the close proximity of the coast guard or naval ship, so that they could be rescued. As regards the debris, it must be appreciated that in the type of fire that was seen in the visual shots of the boat on fire, whatever material could have floated like wood or plastic would have been burnt and all metallic parts would have sunk. Even if some small debris floated, the priority for the ship in that moment would have been to look out for survivors or other craft in the vicinity.
In any case while the boat was on fire, it made perfect sense for the ship to remain away, as the boat could contain ammunition or explosives that could damage the ship. It is often not realised by those, who have not been to sea, that in clear visibility at sea, the lights of the Coast Guard ship is seen from even beyond 50 Km and the shells that are fired at even longer distances may make the ship take over two hours to close the boat. If the boat was moving away and when the boat was burning, it made perfect sense for a small coast guard ship to remain away, when one is not aware of its cargo. Locating debris or the wreck on the bottom is an extremely expensive proposition both in terms of time, efforts and resources and may be undertaken subsequently, depending on the depth and the distance.
The government have to “come clean” on the Pakistani boat issue and explain “which terrorist organisation” was behind the episode that unfolded on the high seas. He also questioned how the government could claim that a terror strike had been prevented without any evidence. —Ajoy Kumar, Congress spokesperson |
It needs to be appreciated here that ever since Pakistan started targeting Taliban after the heinous attack on Army Public School in Peshawar on 16 December 2014, there are large number of elements outside the Pakistani establishment, who have been trying to sabotage these operations by raising hackles in India by firings across Line of Control or International Border. Their whole aim is to enhance tensions within India to such an extent that Pakistan is forced to shift its forces from the West to the East, thereby providing relief to the besieged Taliban.
In the current context, one can assume that this boat possibly could be on a mission to repeat 2008 Mumbai attacks. Although number of steps has been taken since Mumbai attacks took place, still our maritime frontiers continue to remain porous and hence make it easier for terrorists to use the medium of sea for a larger terrorist attack than to infiltrate across fenced land borders. One needs to notice that, this time, even the timing was carefully selected and it was possibly felt that the boat could sneak in on the New Year’s Eve considering many security personnel would be busy celebrating the New Year bash as has been the norm in the services.
Of course their hopes were belied and under the circumstances, by intercepting this suspicious boat, the Coast Guard has probably prevented a major terrorist attack on India. As far as those doubting the narrative, the track of the boat as plotted by the aircraft and the ship based on radar picture shows that it was trying to get away. Similarly, the intercepts of communication indicates that the boat was in touch with maritime authorities in Karachi, obviously petty smugglers cannot and would not do so. However, for reasons of national security and to protect the means (both technical and human) employed to get the inputs, all the information available cannot be made public, just to satisfy some doubting journalists. It would however, be a grave injustice, if a great achievement of our intelligence and maritime agencies is unnecessarily undermined by petty politics.
-Alok Bansal (The writer is a former naval officer and Director of Centre for Security and Strategy, India foundation)
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