Whether the men on the fishing boat that sank in the Arabian Sea on New Year’s Eve were heavily armed terrorists planning another Mumbai-style attack, or whether they were just smugglers transporting contraband goods, there’s only one certainty in the high seas drama involving the Indian coastguard and a Pakistani vessel. The boat did not explode, but went down in an orange glow after it caught fire.
India’s defence ministry, however, claimed there was an explosion, a detail intended, analysts suspect, to bolster the accusation that the Pakistani boat was intercepted by the coastguard as it allegedly proceeded on a terror mission, loaded with weapons and explosives, towards Gujarat, prime minister Narendra Modi’s home state.
All four men on board went down with the vessel.
“The photograph of the burning boat definitely suggests no explosives were detonated on board,” a retired Indian navy admiral told the Guardian. “That would have resulted in a white hot blast, not the orange glow of diesel flames. The intelligence guys are not telling us all they know about how this boat came to their attention.”
But oddly enough, both the internal and external intelligence agencies in India reportedly came to know about the suspect Pakistani fishing boat long after it sank, when the coastguard interceptor ship returned to its base in Gujarat on New Year’s day.
The boat came to the attention of Indian authorities when an agency tasked with tracking electronic communications in the region intercepted Thuraya satellite phone conversations about a suspicious ‘goods consignment’. The agency did not send the data for intelligence analysis. Instead, it informed the Indian navy and coast guard.
But the navy, which has primary responsibility for guarding the seas, ignored the alert. However, the coastguard commander based in the Gujarat city of Porbandar, Mahatma Gandhi’s birthplace, decided to act.
“The navy felt it was just a case of a small-time smuggler’s boat, but the coast guard perhaps wanted to paint a success and went ahead with the operation,” said defence analyst Ajai Shukla.
The coastguard hasn’t painted itself in flying colours after the sinking of the boat. The interceptor ship returned to base without collecting any debris from the Pakistani boat for naval forensic experts to establish what the cargo was and why the boat caught fire.
The local coastguard commander’s press conference after the incident didn’t inspire much confidence either. “The men on the boat nowhere looked like fishermen. They were wearing T-shirts and shorts,” he said. He couldn’t quite clarify if terrorists could be identified by their dress.
Islamabad has shown admirable restraint in its response to the incident. It has maintained that so far no Pakistani boat has been reported missing. India’s defence minister Manohar Parrikar has also been cautious, complimenting the coastguard only for averting a “possible danger”.
But Indian fishermen in Gujarat are worried. “I just hope the government clears up the mystery over this, because if any Pakistani fishermen have been killed the Pakistan navy will take vengeance on us,” the head of the Porbandar fishing boat owners’ association, Narsibhai Jungi Jadeja, told the Indian Express.
But even if Islamabad and Delhi appear to be downplaying the high seas incident, the sinking of the Pakistani fishing boat has resulted in an all-out India-Pakistan war on Twitter.
The Indian chatterati seem fluffed by the new nationalist mood under Modi, while the Pakistanis remain scornful of Indian intentions.
“Who knows what is the story behind the story,” said Shukla, who is a former army officer. “We may never discover the truth. But as it stands, the coastguard’s story of the high seas encounter doesn’t stand scrutiny. This is strictly my military opinion.”
(the guardian)
