Five reasons that it was a terror boat from Pakistan
Was the Coast Guard chasing suspected terrorists or "poor innocent" drug mafia on the high seas on the night of December 31, 2014? Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has weighed in, saying they were suspected terrorists, given the nature of intelligence inputs, intercepts and suspicious movement of the Pakistani boat in the Arabian sea.
Parrikar clarified the operation was mounted by Coast Guard based on specific intelligence input and positive identification by a Coast Guard Dornier aircraft. Subsequently a Coast Guard Inshore Patrol Vessel found the movement of the Pakistani vessel suspicious – loitering on high seas, with its lights switched off, not responding to repeated Coast Guard calls to identify itself and then the chase on the high seas.
Five unanswered questions that indicate the boat had suspected terrorists:
#1. Why didn't the sailors jettison the incriminating evidence? Top ranking officials dealing with counter smuggling operations in the Arabian Sea told Headlines Today that this is not how smugglers behave. Smugglers immediately jettison incriminating evidence. "Such is the nature of the game that smugglers immediate throw the incriminating cargo overboard. At 2,000 metres depth on the high seas, especially when the seas are choppy it is impossible to recover the cargo,’’ Vice Admiral AK Singh, former Director General Coast Guard said.
#2. Why didn't they identify themselves? The occupants of the suspect Pakistani vessel were repeatedly told on loud hailers to identify themselves. According to United Nations Convention on Laws of the Seas, all vessels when stopped by the maritime security agencies are supposed to prepare for boarding and examination of documents and cargo. But the suspect Pakistani vessel tried to speed away, repeatedly attempting to dodge the Coast Guard Inshore Patrol Vessel. Smugglers do not do that. Such is the nature of the game that smugglers often do go to prison for a limited period of time but get off without adequate evidence.
#3. Why did they set their boat on fire? Coast Guard officials find it strange that the sailors on board the suspect vessel, when challenged, went below deck and set the boat on fire. Smugglers do not burn their boat or commit suicide when challenged by the Coast Guard. The occupants of the Pakistani vessel did not want to be caught alive. The nature of their conversation with their handlers and the fact that they preferred to end their lives rather than be arrested points towards something far more sinister than a smuggling operation gone awry.
#4. If they were smugglers, what was their cargo? Diesel and alcohol smuggling is no longer lucrative and especially not on the high seas, 200 nautical miles from the coast line. The difference in prices of diesel in India and Pakistan is less than Rs 3 per litre and a 10 metre boat does not carry enough volume of diesel to make smuggling of diesel or even alcohol profitable for the operation or worth the risk. Even if the consignment was of drugs, dealers and peddlers are not likely to embrace "shahadat" for the loss of one consignment. Reports also indicate that the Pakistani vessel took the same route from Pakistan as was taken by the 10 Pakistani terrorists who attacked India on 26/11.
#5. Even if they were smuggling arms, doesn't that make them terrorists? And finally even if intelligence inputs did not give the entire picture, smugglers are no innocents. Dawood Ibrahim was a smuggler used by ISI to ferry explosives to Mumbai before the 1993 blasts that left 257 people dead and over a thousand injured. Smugglers have been used by Pakistan’s ISI to explore chinks in the coastal security armour. This time those who dispatched the Pakistani vessel clearly bit more than they could chew.