NEW DELHI: In an attempt to stanch a raging controversy, the government has released a video of a Pakistani fishing boat blowing up on New Year’s Eve. The four people on board had died off the coast of Gujarat.
The footage has been shared after an officer of the Coast Guard in Gujarat was filmed earlier this week declaring that he had ordered that the boat be attacked as it approached Indian waters. “I hope you remember the 31st December night. We blew off the Pakistan… we blew them off,” BK Loshali, Deputy Inspector General with the Coast Guard, said in a video released by the newspaper, The Indian Express.
The comments commissioned a huge controversy because they contradicted the government’s version. On January 1, the Defence Ministry said in a statement that the boat laden with explosives was intercepted by the Coast Guard because it was planning an unspecified illegal transaction and the people on board set it on fire, causing it to explode and sink.
The furore ignited by Mr Loshali’s remarks forced Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to clarify on Wednesday that the government’s stand remains unchanged. He said he would review the video of the Coast Guard official’s remarks, and “take action if needed.”
The officer later said that his remarks had been misconstrued and that he was not in a position to know what happened to the boat because he did not handle the operation.
