Congress raps central government on 'Pakistani boat' issue

  New Delhi, Feb 18
The Congress Wednesday accused the central government of handling sensitive issues such as suspected Pakistani boat blown up in Indian waters on the intervening night of Dec 31 and Jan 1 in a "very light manner".

Addressing a press conference here, senior Congress leader Ajay Maken said the issue is very sensitive and must be dealt with care.

"The Indian defence ministry is taking the issue very lightly. It should not be so," he said.

"When you make contrary statements on such issues, they are likely to be used against you by the enemy countries," he said, adding that the truth of the matter should be put before the people of the country.

Maken also said the Coast Guard DIG B.K. Loshali was being threatened by the government.

He said the government did not take them seriously when they raised doubts over the incident in the initial days.

"When we raised doubts over the incident, they accused us of many things. They, in fact, said the Congress was favouring Pakistan and should go there to fight elections," the Congress leader said.

"There have been different reports about the incident. The government must clear the picture on the matter."

Earlier Wednesday, Loshali denied that he had ordered navy men to blow up the boat.

Soon after his denial, the Indian Express, which carried the report of him being there at the centre of the operation that night, released a video showing him boasting that he ordered his men to blow up the boat.

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.