With apprehensions being raised about the identity of the crew of the explosive-laden boat, which sank off Porbandar, the Defence Ministry and Coast Guard maintained on Saturday that the four crew members neither looked like fishermen given their attire nor did they have fishing nets.
While a search is on to retrieve the wreckage of the boat and bodies, the Government said the successful operation was a result of perfect co-ordination between the Intelligence agencies and the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard maintained it followed the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) while intercepting the boat eight km inside Indian waters and managed to avert a possible terror attack.
Islamabad, however, rejected reports that a Pakistani fishing boat carrying explosives was intercepted by the Indian Coast Guard. Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesman Tasnim Aslam categorically denied the reports on Saturday and said no boat from Karachi had gone to the open seas. Pakistan Defence Ministry officials also rejected the reports and alleged the Indians were “trying to divert attention” from the killing of two Pakistan Rangers on December 31. “It is part of Indian propaganda to tarnish the image of Pakistan,” a Defence Ministry official told PTI.
However, narrating the sequence of events, India’s Defence Ministry officials said the operation was based on specific Intelligence that a fishing boat carrying explosives had set sail from Karachi on December 31, following which the Coast Guard deployed a Dornier aircraft. It spotted the “hostile” vessel the same afternoon and kept tracking it for some hours while relaying real time information to the Coast Guard and Intelligence agencies, they said.
“Credit must be given to the Coast Guard for acting on real time Intelligence input in an effective manner. While questions are being raised about the operation, one must realise the likely consequence if the hostile boat had managed to escape the security dragnet and off load explosives for carrying out a terrorist strike,” they said.
When asked about the 24-hour gap before giving details on Friday, officials said the operation took place in the early hours of Thursday morning and the Coast Guard was in the thick of action. The crew of the boat had set the vessel on fire leading to massive explosions. The authorities had to be certain about the incident before relaying the information to relevant quarters for dissemination to media, officials said.
In an effort to clear the air about the identity of the crew, Coast Guard Commander (North-West Region) Kuldip Singh Sheoran said in Gandhinagar, “We saw four men on the boat. They were nowhere looking like fishermen. They were wearing T-shirt and shorts and this raised suspicion.” Moreover, the boat did not carry fishing nets, he said.
Maintaining that Coast Gurad patrol vessel Rajratan followed the SOP while intercepting the hostile boat, he reiterated that the vessel was set on fire by its crew members. Asked if the boat occupants were terrorists, Sheoran said, “multiple Indian Intelligence agencies are jointly investigating the incident and they will get to the bottom of it.”
Giving details of the operation, Sheoran said the Coast Guard received intelligence input about the hostile boat at around 8.30 am on December 31. “We dispatched our Dornier aircraft and ship in that direction and by 1 in the afternoon we had positively identified the ship,” he said. At around midnight ‘Rajratan’ reached near the boat and tried to stop it by following SOP. But instead of surrendering, the boat started moving in a zig-zag way and switched off lights. The Coast Guard ship then chased the boat for one-and-a-half-hours.
“After the hot pursuit, we fired warning shots, but the boat did not stop. We fired more warning shots. After some time, the crew of the boat set it on fire and later it sank with them (occupants),” Sheoran said. The Coast Guard Commander said the force has increased vigilance along the Gujarat coast after this incident and also in view of the two upcoming high-profile events here -- Pravasi Bharatiya Divas and Vibrant Gujarat Summit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several foreign dignitaries will attend these high-profile functions.