New Delhi, Feb 18 (IANS) A Coast Guard official, who said he ordered that a Pakistani boat be blown up, Wednesday denied making the statement. However, an Indian Express video showed the official, saying "Blow the boat off...We don't want to serve them biryani".
Coast Guard Deputy Inspector General (DIG) B.K. Loshali Wednesday refuted media reports that said he ordered the blowing up of a suspected Pakistani boat on the intervening night of Dec 31 and Jan 1 off Porbandar in Gujarat.
Addressing a press conference in Ahmedabad, the officer said media reports quoting him as saying that he ordered that the suspected boat be blasted were wrong and not factual.
"The operation was not handled by me. I was not fully privy to it," he told reporters.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar told the media in Bengaluru that the Coast Guard issue "could be discussed later".
The Indian Express Wednesday put up the video on their website, which shows Loshali speaking at the launch ceremony of an interceptor boat in Surat Feb 16.
The little over a minute long video shows the senior Coast Guard officer saying: "I hope you remember 31st December night".
"We blew off the Pakistan...We have blown them off.
"I was there at Gandhinagar and I told at night blow the boat off...We don't want to serve them biryani".
In early January, Parrikar had said that the people of a Pakistani vessel that blew up and sank off the coast of Gujarat were "suspected terrorists" and did not appear to be smugglers.
He also confirmed that another boat was also traced but it was in international waters.
According to the defence ministry, the suspicious boat was intercepted by the Coast Guard based on an intelligence input Dec 31, and it was traced in the Arabian Sea, 365 km off Porbandar in Gujarat.
The dramatic incident was a reminder of the manner Pakistani terrorists sneaked into Mumbai in 2008.
The vessel, which had set off from near Karachi on New Year's Eve, turned into a ball of fire and sank after its occupants, believed to be four in number, set fire to it early Jan 1.
Will the new army chief be able to keep Pakistan together, these are the challenges
It is almost impossible to see the army and politics separately in Pakistan. Ever since the forma
After Sushma Swaraj, Sheila Dixit, and Atishi, Delhi can once again get a woman chief minister. B
Actress Rhea Chakraborty arrested in a drug case got bail from the Bombay High Court. The court s
Is this agreement between China and Bhutan a tension for India?
On Thursday 14 October, the foreign ministers of China and Bhutan held a meeting via video confer
Dangerous level of pollution in Delhi-Kolkata, shocking figures surfaced
For the last several years, it has always been discussed that pollution is increasing continuousl
The Mumbai Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) questioned Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty for a
Rain interrupts Proteas-Lanka quarter-final
Sydney, March 18 (IANS) Rain halted the first cricket World Cup quarter-final with Sri Lanka ba
Arvind Kejriwal said- all will be treated in Delhi hospital, should have 1.5 lakh beds by 31 July
New Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has a press conference today on the ever-increasing cas
Aamir Khan's film 'Sitaare Zameen Par' has been in the news ever since its release. The film is r
Brucellosis bacteria causing hundreds of people getting sick in China
On one hand, the world is suffering from the havoc of the coronavirus which spread from Wuhan in
