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Thursday March 28, 2024

Four flaws revealed in Indian Coast Guards story

Four marked dichotomies have been found in the Indian story of the recent coast guards’ action against a Pakistani boat that include among others, the disinformation that a single low-power 30HP boat was capable of outrunning four state-of-the-art Indian coast guards’ ships and that an explosion took place in the

By Mian Saifur Rehman
January 26, 2015
Four marked dichotomies have been found in the Indian story of the recent coast guards’ action against a Pakistani boat that include among others, the disinformation that a single low-power 30HP boat was capable of outrunning four state-of-the-art Indian coast guards’ ships and that an explosion took place in the boat although the media clips showed only fire damage to the boat.
Reliable sources have told The News that there are two other major contradictions in the Indian story. One is that 48 hours after the incident, the Indians started portraying a version different from their previous one by suggesting that the boat which had left Keti Bandar, Karachi, might have belonged to small time smugglers.
The second self-contradictory point in the Indian story is that the Indian officials stated that wreckage/bodies could not be recovered due to bad weather; whereas, open source meteorological data had forecasted fair weather. The contradictory statement about the bad weather is supplemented by the fact that small boats do not operate in deep open waters unless the weather is clear.
The sources said that the contradictions and dichotomies depicted the mindset of the powers that be on the other side of the fence that are always on the move to create pretexts for maligning Pakistan, substance or no substance.
Take for example, the story that a small 30HP (horsepower) boat could outrun four fully equipped, fast-speed, sophisticated ships in the use of the Indian Coast Guards. This is just unthinkable and almost the same is the case with the explosion story.
According to the sources, the media clips show only fire damage to the boat. Had an explosion taken place as suggested by the Indians, complete boat, which was small in size, would have torn into pieces.
According to the sources, a drama was orchestrated to defame Pakistan in the world that got much publicity on December 31, 2014, through media reports that a Pakistani fishing boat was intercepted by Indian Coast Guards, some 356 km off the coast of Porebandar, Gujarat. As per Indian Coast Guards IG (Ops) K R Nautiyal, an operation was undertaken on a precise intelligence tip and boat was ordered to stop, but it did not comply and sped away. However, having failed to evade Indian Coast Guards, the crew set the boat on fire, and it exploded. Indian Coast Guards officials stated that no body or debris were found due to bad weather. Moreover, it was also stated that search is on for another boat they fear was in communication with the capsized boat. The incident was strongly rejected by Pakistani Foreign Office terming it as mere propaganda aimed at tarnishing Pakistani’s image.
Apart from Pakistan, even the Indian National Congress has stated that it has doubts about government’s version of Porebandar incident and this has stirred a controversy within India. The BJP, in response, has stated that Congress is lending credence to Pakistani stance.
The sources say that the aim of this stereotype, orchestrated event is to create an aura against Pakistan prior to US President Barack Obama’s visit to India.
When the sources were asked that in what other manner the story could be described as false and malicious apart from the four dichotomies, the sources replied, “No inquiry report was shared with local/ international media.” At this stage, the sources suggested that Pakistan should launch strong diplomatic protest at UNO, demanding an impartial inquiry into the occurrence and into the false propaganda spun around it.