Chandigarh, August 20
There have been reports of increased activities by Pakistan in the sensitive Sir Creek area in the Rann of Kutch. Besides visits by top officers over the past few weeks, elements of Pakistani special forces have also been spotted in the area.

Citing intelligence inputs, a senior Central Police Organisation officer said that officers from the Pakistan’s Special Services Group (Navy) visited the Maritime Security Agency’s (MSA) detachments in the Sir Creek area about two weeks back and surveyed the region on foot as well as on boats.

In the last week of July, MSA Director General Rear Admiral Tyeb Ali Dogar toured the area. Some senior Pakistani naval officers were also spotted in the region. Besides night patrolling, some simulated exercises, including preparing helipads for emergency landing and those involving artillery guns and assault boats were undertaken, sources added.

Helicopters from the Faisal airbase have also been spotted during past weeks while carrying out aerial reconnaissance of the Sir Creek region. Faisal airbase is located near Karachi and is the base of Pakistan’s Southern Air Command.

Border Security Force (BSF) sources said that there are nine MSA detachments in that area having a total strength of about 350 personnel, including a few officers from the Pakistani Navy. Some of the detachments are equipped with VSAT links while a couple of them have helipads adjacent to them. MSA is responsible for guarding Pakistan’s maritime boundary and is equivalent to the Indian Coast Guard.

For long, the 96-km stretch of marshy Sir Creek has been a bone of contention between India and Pakistan over the interpretation of the maritime boundary. The uninhabited marshlands have little military value, but the area holds immense economic value. The region is rich in oil and gas and control over Sir Creek would have a huge bearing on the energy potential of India as well as Pakistan.

A few months after the Kargil conflict, the Indian Air Force had shot down a Pakistani P-3 maritime reconnaissance aircraft after it reportedly intruded into the Indian airspace in that region.