JOIN USSix years after 26/11, maritime terrorism not only continues to be a real security threat, but also extended to Pakistani naval ships in the wake of a recent terrorist attempt to take control of a Pakistani warship a couple of months back.
In September, al-Qaeda militants tried to seize Pakistani naval frigate PNS Zulfiqar. The September 6 attempt, which was foiled after a gun battle and a suicide bombing opens up the possibility of terrorists taking control of warships, fitted with missiles.
“The agencies have taken this (terrorist threat from the sea) into account in the security matrix. The threat is increasing,” Navy Chief Admiral R K Dhowan said here on the eve of the Navy Day.
The navy chief admitted that the coastline is still not fully secure. While 74 automatic identification system stations, 46 coastal radar stations and 51 Navy and Coast Guard stations are functional, the 2.5 lakh fishing vessels remain the most crucial link of the security network, meant for covering 7,615 km coastline and 1,197 islands. Most of these vessels are not monitored at the moment.
During the monsoon season when the fishing activities ebb, Navy and Coast Guard men reach out to every coastal fishing village for updating the information on their boats and to rope in the surveillance net. The effort bore fruit recently when Kerala fishermen informed the Navy of a suspicious vessel and the maritime services responded immediately.
Now every operational centre of the Navy has database on coastal villages including the number of boats and telephone numbers of the village headman and local constable. More coastal police stations are being set up and the fishermen are being provided with bio-metric security cards.
The Navy has come out with a Rs 453-crore new information management and analysis centre that receives feed from shore-based cameras from 20 naval and 31 Coast Guard stations, 46 coastal radars, long-range identification and tracking system, meteorological systems, world registry of shipping data and satellite feeds.