|
Intelligence Bureau officials, worried by Badin base's closeness to India and grim secrecy around it, claim to have warned Indian Navy often since January
ONE of Pakistan's elite Navy bases was used to train the men who massacred hundreds in Mumbai, Indian intelligence officers told MiD DAY on Monday.
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, a senior IB official said, requesting anonymity.
The issue kept coming up in joint intelligence committee meetings, and the last reminder was sent to the Navy in July. IB's inputs were apparently confirmed by India's overseas spy network Research and Analysis Wing.
Indian Navy's Public Relation Officer, when contacted on the phone, refused to comment.
The naval base at Sindh's Badin is a couple of hundred kilometres from Karachi.
Pakistan trains its finest Special Services Group (SSG) commandoes here and activities at the base are kept under extraordinary secrecy. Badin breathes on Indian maritime border at Sir Creek in Gujarat and India's waters in the Arabian Sea.
"Of late, civilians were found doing specialised training courses at the SSG training centre. They could be anyone, from fishermen to jehadis," said a senior officer from Ministry of Home Affairs, requesting anonymity.
The centre trains the commandoes in swift sea-borne operations using small speedboats, exactly the way the terrorists had reached Mumbai on November 26. People trained at Badin can handle dangers of the high seas even when they are sailing in light, accident-prone boats.
"Just from appearances, it is difficult to tell whether the person being trained is a civilian or a serviceman. Given the gaps in state control over Pakistan's own territories, it is quite possible that rogue elements are being trained there," said Vice Admiral (Retd) Pradeep Kaushiva. "The activities at Badin need to be viewed with extreme seriousness. The location is so close to our border that the enemy could use it as an effective launch platform for assaults."
He said the sea route from Pakistan to India was far easier than the land route and that made our entire coastline vulnerable.
| 
