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The Karachi boat wasn't an ordinary fishing vessel, writes Nitin Gokhale

Author: Nitin A. Gokhale
Publication: ABPLive.com
Date: January 3, 2015
URL: http://www.abplive.in/india/2015/01/03/article467323.ece/The-Karachi-boat-wasnt-an-ordinary-fishing-vessel-writes-Nitin-Gokhale

For a number of important functionaries in the Indian Coast Guard, NTRO (the National Technical Research Organisation) and other members of the security establishment, New Year's Eve 2014 was not a time of celebrations. Most of them were at their desks as several surveillance aircraft and ships scoured the vast expanse of Arabian Sea off the Gujarat coast for a suspicious boat that had sailed from Karachi the previous evening.

The NTRO, with its electronic and cyberspace surveillance capability, had first chanced upon a conversation that spoke of 'delivering valuable cargo' on the India coast and that 'arrangements were made to receive it on the Western sea coast' on the morning of 31st December.

The call had originated in Karachi. Still it was only one input. The Coast Guard and the Navy, already on alert because of heightened tension with Pakistan were then informed. As the search was mounted by ships and airplanes, it was not until 11 PM on 31st December that a boat was spotted about 200 nautical miles off the coast of Porbandar.

Their suspicion aroused, a Coast Guard ship sought to intercept the fishing boat and investigate. Instead of cooperating with the Indian Coast Guard the fishing boat headed back towards the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL).

The Coast Guard, aware of the possibility of explosives and arms stored onboard kept circling around the boat which nevertheless continued its dash towards the IMBL. After about an hour of the cat and mouse game, the Coast Guard ship fired several warning shots. The occupants of the boat, perhaps running low on fuel, then set it on fire.

Several loud explosions occurred and a massive fire broke out on the boat. At least four men were spotted on the boat before it sank, a ministry of defence statement said.

Given that the attackers in the 26/11 mayhem had come into Mumbai via sea, immediate parallels were sought to be drawn to that episode but on available evidence, it is still not clear if Mumbai was the target or if the occupants on destroyed boat were assigned to carry out any terrorist attack. What is clear however is the boat was no ordinary fishing vessel.

Neither was the behaviour of the people on board normal. There have been suggestions that the boat was used by diesel and liquor smugglers. As Coast Guard officials point out, smugglers when caught don’t try to run away. Instead, they normally surrender. And they certainly don’t kill themselves. Occupants of the suspicious boat however not only behaved abnormally but chose to embrace death instead of being caught.

Why? Simply because they had something to hide even if one was to assume that they were not terrorists but were simply couriers out to deliver deadly cargo of explosives and arms.

A further search of the area is still on but the well coordinated operation shows that post-26/11, India's maritime surveillance and prevention capabilities have improved significantly. The coordination between different agencies is now almost real time as this operation has demonstrated. Despite such a progress there's no guarantee that future terror attacks can be prevented simply because terrorist have the luxury of choosing the time and space for the attack.

For the past three months, several intelligence inputs have indicated that Pakistan’s ISI continues its relentless attempts to send hit squads of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) into India both through the land and maritime boundaries. Increased vigil by the Indian agencies has prevented any major attack so far but there is no room for self-congratulations or complacency as New Year day’s episode on the high seas has shown.

(The writer is one of South Asia's well-known Security & Strategic Affairs analysts)
 
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