Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday defended the statement made by his Ministry regarding an intruding Pakistani boat “blowing itself” off Porbandar coast on December 31, 2014, and hinted disciplinary action against Coast Guard DIG BK loshali, who falsely claimed that the boat was blown by the Coast Guard on his orders.
The Minister’s denial came amid a newspaper report quoting a claim by loshali on Tuesday that he issued order to blow off the Pakistani boat after it was intercepted by a Coast Guard boat. He reportedly remarked: “We do not want to serve them (crew on board Pakistani boat) biryani.”
While loshali on Wednesday said he was misquoted, the Coast Guard served him a show-cause notice. “I was not privy to whatever was happening. I have been misquoted. I had mentioned that no anti-national element will be allowed to breach our coastal security and we are not going to serve them biryani,” loshail said.
“The operation was classified in nature and its details were not shared (with me),” he told reporters in Ahmedabad, adding it was his boss Inspector General, North West region, Kuldip Singh Sheoran, who was in-charge of the operation.
Coast Guard Inspector General KR Nautiyal said in New Delhi that they had received a statement from loshali, who had denied making any such statement. loshali in his clarification said he had said “anti-national” elements won’t be served briyani and dealt with according to the law of the land.
Addressing the customary Press conference on Wednesday at the Aero India 2015 in Bengaluru, Parrikar said, “The Defence Ministry had given a very clear statement. We stand by it.” He also indicated disciplinary action against loshali if he had made the statement contradicting the Ministry’s stand that the four-member Pakistani crew blew up their boat when challenged by Coast Guard ship Rajrattan.
“If someone makes a statement which is incorrect, at the most you are making a case of a disciplinary proceeding against him. At the most if you prove that he has made statement, you are making a case of taking action against him. It does not change the ground reality,” the Minister said.
Responding to a volley of questions on loshali’s reported statement, Parrikar said if the DIG has made the remarks, action will be taken only after enquiring into the issue and will go through the copy of the video recording of the DIG’s statement to ascertain the facts.
loshali, who is Chief of Staff, Northwest Region, had reportedly said on Tuesday, “let me tell you. I hope you remember December 31 night...We blew off that Pakistani boat...We have blown them off...I was there at Gandhinagar and I told at night, blow the boat off. We don’t want to serve them biryani....”
The Minister said he “could release evidence” relating to the incident. “I could do that,” he said when asked whether he would make the evidence public. The Defence Ministry, Parrikar, and the Coast Guard have maintained that it was the Pakistani boat’s crew that had set itself on fire or were responsible for the explosion that destroyed the vessel 365 km off Porbandar coast after an hour-long chase by a Coast Guard ship on New Year’s eve.
In New Delhi, the Congress demanded that the Government should come clean on the issue and warned it against threatening the DIG. AICC spokesman Ajoy Kumar, who first had raised questions on the operation, reiterated that the matter of security concerns should be addressed properly and the countrymen should know as to what happened.
“The Government should come clean on it. There is no evidence... How can you say that a terrorist attack was prevented and now they are even threatening their own securitymen,” Kumar said at the AICC briefing. Former Union Minister Manish Tewari asked the Defence Minister to introspect as to what was a bigger sin blowing the boat or “lying” to the nation.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Wednesday said in Islamabad the claim by a Coast Guard official that a Pakistani boat was blown up by the force contradicted Indian Government’s statement.
“It has once again been proved that India has violated the international rules and disregarded the humanitarian considerations,” he said, reacting to reports from India. “It (India) not only imposed baseless and false allegations on Pakistan like in the case of Samjhauta Express, but was involved in treacherously killing four innocent lives on board. India has once again proved to be heinous in its face, designs and urge for peace,” Asif alleged.