Even as the India-Pakistan conflict is currently limited to the border states, there has been a heightened alert around Mumbai given the city’s past experience of terror attacks perpetrated by Pakistan. With security concerns looming large on account of access through sea and air, the Indian Navy has not only deployed its fleets but is also taking account of fishing boats and their crew, and also ensuring the safety of India’s strategic asset — the Mumbai High.
“There is full alert around the coast of Mumbai and the Northern and Arabian fleet have been deployed. Monitoring has been enhanced of the fishermen boats and their crew and they have been sensitised to be alert and report any abnormal activity in the seas that they come across,” said a Navy official on condition of anonymity.
The source added that given the 2008 terror attack, it is very important to monitor all the boats and their crew and account for them on a daily basis.
“A couple of days back there was a meeting of the naval incharge with the fisheries commissioner and the fishing authorities have been told to account for the boats and share details of the boat count, their master, their owner and crew on the boat on a daily basis. Fishermen have also been advised to stay vigilant and given the presence of offshore development area — Mumbai High — they have been told to not go close to the rig and stay away as it’s a strategic asset,” the official said.
As Mumbai witnessed an unprecedented terror attack in 2008 when Ajmal Kasab, along with nine other terrorists from Pakistan, entered Mumbai via sea and unleashed a terror attack that shook the city and the country, sources say that the Navy cannot take any chances and so they are keeping a tab on all the local boats and account for the same on a daily basis. “There is always a threat of similar misadventure and so the boats have to be accounted for,” he said.