Tall claims: Senior Indian official may be indicted for revealing truth

Inquiry reveals Indian coast guard destroyed the boat

NEW DEHLI:

The ‘terror boat’ saga took an unusual turn on Sunday when sources in the inquiry panel of the Indian coast guard suggested that Deputy Inspector General (DIG) BK Loshali was likely to be indicted for his statements about how the maritime force had sunk a Pakistani boat off the coast of Gujarat.

The move cements evidence that the coast guard took action against a smuggling vessel, contrary to earlier Indian claims of foiling a terrorist attack by Pakistan-based elements.

At the end of 2014, the Indian maritime force apprehended a boat off the coast of Gujarat. In its version, the force said they had tried to stop the boat but there had been an explosion and later the boat sank along with the crew and the cargo it was carrying.

The coast guard also claimed that they had averted a Mumbai-style 2008 terrorist attack. Meanwhile, the Indian ministry of defence had claimed that the crew had blown up the boat themselves.

However, both internal investigations and the media revealed that rather than terrorists, the boat was merely carrying contraband and might not have been a Pakistani boat at all, but an Indian one that was reportedly carrying contraband to Pakistan.

While top government sources indignantly questioned reports in the Indian media that suggested the coast guard may have acted using excessive force, DIG Loshali gave the game away by admitting at a dinner meeting which was videotaped that they were the ones who had sunk the boat.

“Remember the night of December 31, 2014? We blew off that boat. I was there at Gandhinagar and at night I ordered – blow the boat off. We do not want to serve them biryani,” claimed Loshali.

Despite claims by Loshali that the video tape had been edited, the inquiry panel sourced the original clip from the organisers of the function, leaving the Indian government embarrassed on how to handle the precarious situation developed by earlier spurious claims of the boat carrying potential terrorists from across the border.

Officials with knowledge of the matter revealed that senior officials are contemplating action against Loshali, including a court martial.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2015.