Pakistani men might have disguised as fishermen

Seizure of Pakistani fishing boats with Pakistani or Bangladeshi fishermen, off or on fishing seasons from the Arabian Sea or the vast treacherous creek areas, is not a new thing. But the arrest of nine Pakistanis from Akari village on Sunday is not being taken lightly by the security agencies, even though the intruders apparently look like fishermen.

The reasons for suspicion is that there had been intelligence inputs last month from RAW and IB that LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba) was on the job to send its trained men to buy house in coastal area of Kutch to serve it as its base to conduct terrorist activities in thee coastal states of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

In the present case, highly placed sources in the Border Security Force (BSF) told this newspaper that they had intelligence reports from across the border that some Pakistanis were on their way by the creek route to sneak into Kutch. "We certainly had a tip-off about their coming and we were in fact waiting to nab them,'' a BSF official said.

There were reports that one Juman would come by boat. Now, after the arrest was made, one Mohmed Juman (25) is there among the nine. Moreover, three of them clearly told security agencies during preliminary interrogation that they did not come for fishing. Add to that, their fishing boat is a two-engine fishing boat, which is normally not used by fishermen.

Kutch superintendent of police Wabang Jamir told DNA on Tuesday that the nine Pakistanis were under intensive interrogation by various security and intelligence agencies at JIC. "We will all soon find out whether they are real fishermen or otherwise having come here with ulterior motive,'' he said, pointing out that anti-nationals could go to any extent, including disguising as fishermen.

New BSF DIG for the Kutch sector, Virender Kumar, though admitted that there was prior intelligence report about the infiltration through the maritime route, the tip-off was of general nature. When asked why they were not nabbed in the transit - they had come from Shah Bandar near Karachi, some 100 km away from Kutch village of Moti Akari  from where they were caught, and passed through more than dozen creeks and numerous nallahs - the DIG said that the area was too vast and difficult to catch any one hiding in thick mangrove jungles.

He said they had handed over the foreign nationals to the Kutch police for their further interrogation and nothing could be guessed at this state about their true identity - whether they are fishermen or anti-nationals.

The entire creek area from disputed Sir Creek that constitutes border between Kutch and Sindh remained unguarded from April as the water wing of the BSF had withdrawn their all floating BOPs because of rough sea during monsoon. Then the civilian coastal belt down the creek too saw total stoppage of the patrolling by joint sea patrolling (JSP) for the same reasons.

This newspaper had carried two detailed reports - 'Poor security an invite to Taliban?' and 'Rain may bring terror deluge to Kutch'. The coast guard and other agencies, including the police, believed infiltration from across the border was possible only through the creek route because the creeks had shallow and calm waters as compared to sea. Sources in security agencies believe these nine Pakistanis could venture only because of absence of the BSF in the creek area.