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Naval chief denies being pulled up
Naval chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta today denied media reports that he had been ‘pulled up’ by the defence minister
A.K. Antony for not acting in time to avert the Mumbai attack. “A meeting with the minister has been wrongly presented by the media,” he told reporters here today. He also criticised the manner in which the counter-attack operation was aired on the TV channels.
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New Delhi, December 2
In a candid, upfront admission, the Indian Navy Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta today said “it was a systemic failure” that led to the terror attacks in Mumbai. “The lacunae did exist in India's coastal security and intelligence- sharing mechanisms,” said Mehta, while interacting with reporters here on Tuesday.
Mehta said the Navy did not receive any actionable input to effectively prevent the tragedy. “I am not aware of any intercept received by the research and analysis wing (RAW) on November 19 as being reported in the media,” said the Naval chief, adding that the government would come up with an adequate response. The loopholes in sharing of the information will be effectively plugged, he said. “The exchange of information is an operational function which should go on at fairly regular intervals. The most important part is that the information available should be actionable. It should have something specific,’ he pointed out.
On being asked if the government was sure of the Pakistan link to the attack, he said, “Surely, there is enough evidence.” The Navy head also emphasised on the need for electronic and mechanical tracking of all the 1.50 lakh fishing trawlers in the Western coastal states. “The existing system of ID cards being issued by the state government was not enough,” he maintained. Mehta also called for a greater ‘synergy’ among agencies controlling the security of the 7,516-km-long coastline. The coastal
security in present formulation envisages layers. The Indian Navy is till 200 nautical miles from the coast. The inner circle belongs to the coast guard followed by the marine police and port security.
“There’s scope for lot of improvement as far as marine policing is concerned,” said the Admiral, adding that the Navy will soon procure a communication satellite that will network all the ships and planes of the force to provide real-time inputs. When asked if the coast guard should be merged with the Navy, Mehta said he could not comment on the merger.
On lack of prosecution powers to the Navy, the Admiral said the law should be amended to give more teeth to the force.
Earlier, he strongly defended the sinking of a Thai fishing trawler in the Gulf of Aden a fortnight ago. “The Indian warship INS Tabar did nothing wrong by blowing up a pirate ship in self-defence. The ship was under the control of pirates and was being put to use by the sea brigands for activities that were clearly against the law,” he remarked.
