Are we waiting for another 26/11?

Lack of equipment and manpower mar coastal security

Are we waiting for another 26/11?

Lack of equipment and manpower mar coastal security

An event of the magnitude of the 26/11 terrorist attacks on Mumbai could not make the government realize the importance of securing our coasts, the announcements and statements by ministers and officials notwithstanding.

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram announced grand plans about setting up a coastal command to shore up country's defence against infiltration of the terrorists by sea route. Yet nothing much has changed on the ground.

In the last few weeks Indian Coast Guards (ICG) along with coastal police of Maharashtra and Gujarat and Customs officials carried out yet another round of operations to identify their exact areas of operations. All agencies are busy preparing exhaustive reports over how to deal with the situation but the exercises laid bare their ill-preparedness in case of an emergency.u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0

A recent drill involving a surveillance aircraft and the Coast Guards is a case in point.
The surveillance aircraft pointed out 3000 fishing boats in the high seas and asked the Coast Guard vessels to check them up. The input was further sent out to the Customs and coastal police.

However, till the last light of the day the Coast Guards and other agencies could intercept or check less than 10 per cent of the boats identified by the surveillance aircraft.

"All the security agencies are facing an acute shortage of trained manpower and technology to deal with the situation. The concept of coastal command is very vast and needs concerted efforts by all the agencies present on the coast line and high seas," said a senior Ministry of Defence (MoD) officer, requesting anonymity.u00a0u00a0

The Coast Guards are short of reliable air surveillance assets, fast patrol crafts and manpower. "Coast guards have no surveillance helicopters and due to severity of the situation it is forced to go for second hand choppers. On the other hand the coastal police in Maharashtra and Gujarat is yet not fully prepared," said an officer from Gujarat.

He also added that though Customs officials have also been roped in the exercise they don't have any knowhow of the security drills. "Their job is very different from that of Coast Guards and coastal police. They need to be trained and it will take time," said a Home Ministry official.

After stock-taking the security agencies have started to prepare a wish list to improve their performance.
While the Coast Guards is preparing a list of advance equipments, other agencies have also expedited training manpower.

"Coastal command has already started functioning but it will take some time to fully develop. These exercises will only help us sort out the initial hiccups," said the officer.

Shadow of terror
ONE of Pakistan's elite Navy bases were used to train the men who massacred hundreds in Mumbai, MiD DAY had reported on December 2, 2008.
The Intelligence Bureau (IB) had sent several warnings to the Indian Navy about civilians being trained at Pakistan's fortress-like Badin naval base, the first being an advisory sent out in January. IB's inputs were apparently confirmed by India's overseas spy network Research and Analysis Wing. Pakistan trains its finest Special Services Group (SSG) commandoes here and the base breathes on Indian maritime border at Sir Creek in Gujarat and India's waters in the Arabian Sea.

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