The ships INS Khukri and INS Sumitra had been docked to allow visitors into the ships. Incidentally, the only visitors who benefited from the ships being in the port were some 60 street children and orphans – they had visited the warships just before the alarm was sounded.
The movement out of the ships is because warships are the safest in the open seas where they can defend themselves. West Bengal has come into focus due to the unearthing of terror jihadi modules operating in Burdwan and other different locations in the state. These modules numbering nearly 65 of the Jamaat-ul- Mujahideen Bangladesh had been operating with impunity under the eyes of the local police and came to light only when central agencies like the NIA and NSA were involved to find out the truth behind a bomb blast in which two persons died – they turned out to be the people behind the sleeper modules.
National Security Adviser Ajit Doval has indicated to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that the state of West Bengal is gradually turning into a safe haven for anti-national elements and the government should take action to crack down on this.
Moreover, there was an attempt by al-Qaida's Indian sub-continent wing to hijack Pakistani frigate PNS Aslat at Karachi in September – the objective apparently was to deploy it against Indian warships. It may be recalled that Pakistan had suffered humiliation at Karachi harbor port during the Bangladesh liberation war in 1971 and, since then, for the past 43 years, Pakistan has been harboring designs to strike back at, especially, the Indian Navy.
In the opinion of experts, the probable reason for choosing Kolkata port for the strike is that even though there are other ports like Mumbai, Visakhapatnam and Kochi, these are heavily guarded, hence difficult to penetrate the high security ring.
However, Kolkata port is guarded by the CISF since it does not have a strong naval presence.
No comments:
Post a Comment