The writer has served in the Pakistan Air Force as fighter pilot for 35 years and is based in Islamabad
The issue was instantly taken up by Indian government officials and the Indian press and another yarn was quickly woven to drag Pakistan in. How can India lose a possible opportunity for negative propaganda against Pakistan? The Indian defence minister insisted that it was a terrorist boat, a claim which he suggested was proved by circumstantial evidence. He, however, forgot to mention what the circumstantial evidence was.
A retired Indian admiral has said that the photographs of the burning boat definitely indicate that there were no explosives on the boat because that would result in a white-hot blast and not the orange glow emitted by the ignition of diesel flames. The Indian Express reported that the boat was actually on a smuggling run carrying dates, alcohol and heroin for a Balochistan-based smuggler. A noted Indian defence analyst and retired military officer, Ajai Shukla, has said that as it stands, the coastguard’s story of the high seas encounter doesn’t stand scrutiny.
How does the Indian defence minister know that it was a boat from Pakistan with not a shred of evidence of any sort? Why is it that no debris, even small pieces of wreckage, were not collected by the coastguards for a forensic examination to determine the cargo on the boat? How is it that a boat with a small engine could not be overtaken by four highly-powered coastguard ships?
India’s Congress party is repeatedly saying that it could not be a Pakistani boat and that there ought to be a full inquiry of the issue. Pakistan has, of course, denied any sort of involvement simply because there wasn’t any. What I can surmise from whatever has been said and done so far is this:
1) The Indian Coast Guard is either extremely inefficient (by their own admission) or has most likely concocted a story under the direction of the BJP government, that also done very poorly; 2) If the persons on the boat were terrorists, they would most likely have wanted to take some of the coastguards with them rather than die alone and meekly. That is what terrorists would have done; 3) What if there indeed was a boat of smugglers, defenceless against the Indian coastguards, who attacked and sunk the boat. The BJP then decided to capitalise on the incident to continue its relentless propaganda against Pakistan, particularly so in the wake of Barack Obama’s visit; 4) Alternatively, Indian authorities could have planned the whole episode and executed it with prior intentions to malign Pakistan. India is known to have done that previously.
The Pakistan government must lodge strong protest against this irresponsible and provocative conduct by Indian authorities. It should be impressed upon the international community that whereas Pakistan is actively fighting terrorism, Indian efforts to sabotage these efforts are against international peace and harmony. Closer to home, what are our diplomats doing about it?
Published in The Express Tribune, January 27th, 2015.
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COMMENTS (23)
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let me clear you my dear friends with my knowledge and past experience. it in an act by smugglers who carry liquor bottles along with them.as the boat(launch) filed with liquor bottles takes almost 2-3 hours to sunk unlike explosive blast which take minutes for explosion.as i preceive there willl be a small speedy boat being towed by this launch as smugglers has the tendency to escape through speedy boats when have a fear of being apprehended and same is the case here.no dead body found except a burning boat right infront of indian coastguard.moreover i would like to highlight that in future,if indian coastguard want to apprehend such smugglers and can give a prove to pakistan,following tips might help them 1- use an interceptor boat with a radar and switch off the lights while intercepting the launch because these launch doesnt have radar and they will not be able to see an incoming boatwhile you could. 2- proceed with high speed more than 30 knts in order to give minimum reaction time to smugglers to analyse the situation.speedy boat use yamaha engine which has speed of 30 knts approx 3- can use a mother ship having good radar in order to get wider picture of sea and ask them not to close smuggler boat otherwise same incident will happen again resulting shame infront of youu superior and neighbouring countries like we pakistanis. 4- these launch always switch off their lights while proceeding in sea as a thief will never move wide open chest so the coastguard should easily detect that a boat painted on radar and cannot be sighted is actually the suspicious boat.
regards: A gentle advice from a pakistani who has been into this situation several times and is sharing real incidents.i as pakistani cant stop laughing at your coastguard.God bless you all indians and give you brain.
let me clear you my dear friends with my knowledge and past experience. it in an act by smugglers who carry liquor bottles along with them.as the boat(launch) filed with liquor bottles takes almost 2-3 hours to sunk unlike explosive blast which take minutes for explosion.as i preceive there willl be a small speedy boat being towed by this launch as smugglers has the tendency to escape through speedy boats when have a fear of being apprehended and same is the case here.no dead body found except a burning boat right infront of indian coastguard.moreover i would like to highlight that in future,if indian coastguard want to apprehend such smugglers and can give a prove to pakistan,following tips might help them 1- use an interceptor boat with a radar and switch off the lights while intercepting the launch because these launch doesnt have radar and they will not be able to see an incoming boatwhile you could. 2- proceed with high speed more than 30 knts in order to give minimum reaction time to smugglers to analyse the situation.speedy boat use yamaha engine which has speed of 30 knts approx 3- can use a mother ship having good radar in order to get wider picture of sea and ask them not to close smuggler boat otherwise same incident will happen again resulting shame infront of youu superior and neighbouring countries like we pakistanis. 4- these launch always switch off their lights while proceeding in sea as a thief will never move wide open chest so the coastguard should easily detect that a boat painted on radar and cannot be sighted is actually the suspicious boat.
regards: A gentle advice from a pakistani who has been into this situation several times and is sharing real incidents.i as pakistani cant stop laughing at your coastguard.God bless you all indians and give your coastguard strength to use their brain.incompetence at its peak
i know author is right.indian coastguard has no evidence of proving it to be terrorist boat except making their own theories just to cover their incompetency.let me tell you that there will be a small speedy boat which is being towed by the liquor smugglers who use it for escaping purpose before being apprehended.they used to jump into the boat and set the launch on fireby thwoing petrol on liquor bottles resulting no evidence.plus liquor bottles burns slowly and take almost 2-3 for boat to be sunk and same has happened in this incident.explosion has differnet effect.ive seen this incident in the past many times so thats why im confident enough and i couldnt stop myself to comment here and am surprised to see the indian coastguard coverup story and inefficiency.leme tell you guys,the best way to apprehend such kind of smugglers boat is to use interceptor boat with high speed and always switch off the lights when proceeding towards it.the smugglers dont have radar on their boat so they will nor be able to intercept you unlike coastguard who do have the boats.SO just switch off the lights once you detcted it on radar and proceed with high speed by giving min reaction time.in thats the only way you will be able to apprehend the launch as well as towing boat and thats the only way you can prove .i would say this is incopetency by coastguard.
If you click author name just below this article name on top, ET shows "Stories by Sattar Alvi"
@ilyas: World is struggling to find plane wreckage which is equipped with beacons to locate it from seas and oceans and you think finding the boat from bottom of the sea is easier ? I hope you understand that Arabian sea is a "sea" not a still water lake where you just drop a fishing road and get hold of wreckage. Thats the beauty of gullible like you who prefers to believe conspiracy theories rather than using even basics of education to rationalize the argument.
This is unusual for ET. I read Mr. Masood's ho-hum "analysis" and now this high-school fiction masquerading as "insider" information. Disappointment on both counts. Maybe it is just Tuesday.
The amount of effort Indians put on this website is kinda sad. If only they could attend to their own problems as much
Another Khaki added to the lot .... He must be the one from the surrendered in Bangladesh ... dying for revenge ....
@Author: "How does the Indian defence minister know that it was a boat from Pakistan with not a shred of evidence of any sort?"
Dear Sir, kisi ne kya khoob kaha hai - "Bad accha, Badnam bura"
In other words, he just knows.
@Gp65: Dear Madam, my respect and admiration for your tireless, if futile, soldering on, as.I return to ET after some fair hiatus to see you still guarding the post. I'd like to submit a saying for your kind consideration as well, if you permit me - "Aundhe Gharey paani nahin peetey" i.e. an inverted pitcher can never be filled.
Where is boat wreck, the bodies, the consignment, etc. to push the investigation? Put forward tenable evidence, else just shut up.
The very fact that India has not tom-tommed the terror boat incident internationally is due to the fact the case hinges solely on circumstantial evidence since neither the boat nor its occupants could be taken into custody.
Having said that, for the author to then allude to a conspiracy by the incumbent Indian government based on the Congress party's response and a newspaper report is typical Pakistani denialism. For starters, the Indian Coast Guard was on the lookout for the boat as it had received intelligence based on unusual radio chatter and the route of the boat paralleled the coastal route used by the Mumbai attackers. Secondly, smugglers prefer to be taken into custody when caught rather than to give up their lives.
Have u ever read "Once bitten twice shy". Boats originate from karachi, moves into Indian waters towards India and Mumbai massacres, Sounds a bell ??
The title was definitive in conclusion but the meat of the article is speculation and gossip without evidence. I can also equally speculate based on my imagination, but it is still a speculation.
Where is the beef? Otherwise, the official version stands since they were there in action.
If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it is likely a duck.
Sorry Sir, it was another misadventure from Pakistani soil which was foiled right in sea. The name of the boat, the name of four occupants, its starting point, its satellite location tracking (from different places including Singapore) and its mission is already in public domain. More denial will embrass the nation more. It is good for both nations, especially Pakistan to close this chapter here only. Otherwise make some investigative journalism in Pakistan to trace facts.
India doesn't need to do any propaganda against Pakistan. Pakistan itself is capable of doing it very well.
Pakistan's capacity to show itself to be a incompetent terror supporting state is so infinite, that almost all countries in the world (bar china) have given up on trying to help it. All they seek now is a transactional relationship to protect their own interests. And that includes India.
This is one of the good articles i have read on tribune. we need more of the like
Terrorists sailing from Pakistan to Inda has happened before. One in 1993 when Dawood Ibrahim offloaded explosives from Pakistan in Mumbai and again n 2008.
How is it different this time?
A Math question: In the high seas, the fastest you can travel in a typical coast guard boat is around 60 km/hr. If another boat is travelling, in the same direction, even at half the speed and is 20 km away(since it was picked up by satellites), how long would it take for the Coast Guard to chase down the boat?
More than 45 minutes. If it was farther, then more than an hour. Which perfectly fits the story.
Why would liberals spin conspiracy theories, when an average Pakistani is already so confused as to who is the enemy? The liberals are directly responsible for the plight of Pakistan, more so than the Terrorists, for they have supported them on and off, based on convenience.
WOW, so "Pakistan is actively fighting terrorism"! However author admits he was in a Coma for more than a decade so he has "no knowledge" of Good Taliban Assets, safe havens, strategic depth, jihadis created to bleed India of a thousand cuts, 26/11 Mumbai, LeT/JuD, or OBL living in Abbottabad!!'
If the boat was indeed some 'smugglers' from Pakistan (or perhaps even Somalia or somewhere further west!), surely the people on board would NOT, repeat NOT have set the boat on fire -- which clearly it was -- and so, destroyed whatever evidence there was on board. So Why did they do that? Clearly, they had things to hide!! Heroin? Liquor? Gimme a break dear @author ... such things are one-penny two-penny in the world nowadays in situations such as this surely you know that :-) The author above only quotes some Indian newspaper because it suits his own biased point of view -- Bravo sir! I know one thing for sure... if the reverse had happened, and if some Pakistani newspaper had 'defended' the Indian position (whatever it was), that same publication would have become the target of hate propaganda -- infidels/conspiracy/Jews etc etc throughout Pakistan. Needless to say, we would never have heard the end of it for the next 50 years at least. That is the sad sob story of Pakistan, and its 'intellectuals' like the above author.
Author says:
"1) The Indian Coast Guard is either extremely inefficient (by their own admission) or has most likely concocted a story under the direction of the BJP government, that also done very poorly;"
Why ineficent? They acted on intelligence provided and challenged the boat. Prevented itbfrom going forward with its mission. Whatelse is efficiency?
" 2) If the persons on the boat were terrorists, they would most likely have wanted to take some of the coastguards with them rather than die alone and meekly. That is what terrorists would have done;"
Not necessarily. They may have been told that under no circumstances they should be captured alive like Kasab, so as to keep up plausile deniability.
" 3) What if there indeed was a boat of smugglers, defenceless against the Indian coastguards, who attacked and sunk the boat. The BJP then decided to capitalise on the incident to continue its relentless propaganda against Pakistan, particularly so in the wake of Barack Obama’s visit; "
'Defenseless against Indian guards" makes it seem like the smugglers were victims to have been challenged by coastguards. Yes and they could have been good samaritans simply out in the sea to see if any drowning kids could be saved. They could be many things but what is most likely given the nature of transcripts that were intercepted and The fact that they preferred to self destruct rather than be captured by Coast guard?
"4) Alternatively, Indian authorities could have planned the whole episode and executed it with prior intentions to malign Pakistan. India is known to have done that previously."
Seriously? Are you also a believer of the fact that Kasab was an Indian despite the fact that Geo even interviewed the parents in Pakistan and Pakistan overnment oo has admitted he was Pakistani and David Headley aka Daood Gilani has given a sworn testimony in US courts?
@KashmiriMuslim: India doesn't bother :P
1) The Indian Coast Guard is either extremely inefficient (by their own admission) or has most likely concocted a story under the direction of the BJP government, that also done very poorly; 2) If the persons on the boat were terrorists, they would most likely have wanted to take some of the coastguards with them rather than die alone and meekly. That is what terrorists would have done; 3) What if there indeed was a boat of smugglers, defenceless against the Indian coastguards, who attacked and sunk the boat. The BJP then decided to capitalise on the incident to continue its relentless propaganda against Pakistan, particularly so in the wake of Barack Obama’s visit; 4) Alternatively, Indian authorities could have planned the whole episode and executed it with prior intentions to malign Pakistan. India is known to have done that previously.
Just wow sir, What great assumptions u have made and u have made awesome inferences.you should be teaching strategy subject in some pakistan premiere B-school.. and moreover sir..had u written that 26/11 and 9/11 were also inside job..than ur article would have been complete..and would have become extremely meaningful and awesome..