On December 31, 2014, an allegedly Pakistani boat, with a crew of four was blown up in the high seas near Indian waters. There has been a great deal of controversy surrounding the reasons and circumstances under which this boat was destroyed, killing all the people on board. The controversy began when the Indian Express newspaper reported the comments of B K Loshali, deputy inspector general (DIG) of the Indian coast guard (CG), at a boat launching ceremony. “I hope you remember 31st December, we blew off the Pakistani,” Loshali boasted. “I was there at Gandhinagar and I told at night blow the boat off.” After the report, he adamantly denied the allegation, saying that: “I have been misquoted; the boat actually set itself on fire and sank. I was not privy to whatever was happening on the ground that day.” After this statement, the Indian Express released the video of the DIG’s incriminating comments to corroborate their report. The video went viral on social media, compelling the Indian authorities to attempt to justify and explain the issue. At first, Loshali claimed that the boat had been smuggling weapons into India and blew itself up when the coast guard approached and fired warning shots. Next, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar commented: “I am not speculating that it had explosives. But their activities to my mind do not fit the description of smugglers. Circumstantial evidence points to suspected terror links.” After the release of the video, Parrikar stated that the “issue was over” and that the Indian government stood by the original statement that the crew of the boat blew themselves up.
The Indian Defence Minister tried to spin the incident as an attempt to prevent another terror attack on Indian soil by citing the “circumstantial evidence” that the boat was met by the Indian ships in a location which is not a part of the regular route taken by fishermen or smugglers. It is not unusual for small fishing boats to meander from the regular path, in fact there have been several incidents in the past, on both sides of the border, when fisherman from the neighbouring countries have inadvertently crossed over into the waters of the other side and been arrested. Despite all the ambiguity surrounding this story, certain facts are clear: the Indian coast guard does not have jurisdiction over international waters. Regardless of the boat’s location, the coast guard does not have just cause to attack a crew suspected of terror or smuggling, when neither allegations have been proved. It is the responsibility of the Indian government to investigate this possible crime to the fullest extent, particularly in the light of the recent thaw in India-Pakistan relations. The foreign secretaries of both countries will resume talks in March after tense relations and extreme cross-border violence since May. A war is not something the two nations can survive, financially or otherwise, and cooler heads must prevail. *