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Confusion as India’s defence ministry claims sunken Pakistani boat exploded | |
(about 11 hours later) | |
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 just smugglers transporting contraband goods, there is 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 terrorist mission, loaded with weapons and explosives, towards Gujarat, which is the prime minister, Narendra Modi’s, home state. | |
All four men on board went down with the vessel. | 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 admiral told the Guardian. “That would have resulted in a white hot blast, not the orange glow of diesel flames.” | |
India’s defence minister, Manohar Parrikar, insisted on Monday that “all the circumstantial evidence points to the fact that it was a terror boat” and not a drug-smuggling vessel. The boat remained at one location for 12 hours, it was in touch with Pakistan’s maritime security agency and the crew “committed suicide, hara-kiri”, he said. “Even drug smugglers surrender when caught, they don’t commit suicide.” | |
Parrikar was responding to a report in the Indian Express from Karachi that the boat was actually on a smuggling run, carrying dates, alcohol and heroin for a Balochistan-based smuggler. The boat’s name was given as Qalandar and its captain was Yaqoob Baloch, from the Lyari district of Karachi. The paper quoted Baloch’s mother saying: “My son had nothing to do with terrorists.” | |
Delhi-based analysts sceptical of the “smuggling boat” theory see it as disinformation emanating from India’s intelligence agencies. “The interception of the Pakistani boat has been caught in a bureaucratic crossfire,” said Mohan Guruswamy, a strategic affairs expert. “It was a terror boat heading most likely for the Gujarat port of Porbandar, where a new naval base is being set up. The coastguard was quick to take action but, due to inter-agency rivalries, the intelligence agencies are trying to discredit the operation.” | |
After the fishing-boat incident, Modi cancelled his visit to Porbandar to inaugurate work on the naval base and the Indian navy has called off the function citing the terrorist threat. | |
The coastguard has emerged badly from the incident. Its interceptor ship returned to base without collecting any debris from the Pakistani boat, which would have allowed naval forensic experts to establish what the boat’s cargo was. | |
As a result the mystery of the burning Pakistani boat may never be resolved. “Who knows the story behind the story,” said Ajai Shukla, a noted defence analyst and 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.” | |
Islamabad has denied that a Pakistani boat was involved in the incident. | |
But Indian fishermen in Gujarat are worried. “I just hope the government clears up the mystery, 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. | |
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