Sir — This refers to the editorial, “A disturbing incident” (January 5). Intelligence agencies and the Coast Guard had tracked the Pakistani boat for a long time, and they had no doubt that it was not a fishing boat. The crew too did not appear to be fishermen. All this information was relayed to the media clearly, and thereafter clearly reported by the print and the electronic media.
Yet, some media sceptics floated the bogus story that the alleged Pakistani terrorists were probably ‘poor, petty smugglers’, out to earn their living. Incredibly, the story in a major national daily even quoted a Pakistani fishermen’s leader in support of this theory! The senior reporter not only poured scorn on the official version, he even quoted ‘local fishermen’ to discredit the boat-burning incident, claiming that no fire was visible in a clear sky at the given time. He never explained that, if the crew members were petty smugglers, why did they not surrenderIJ Obviously, they had something to hide.