Needless Political One-Upmanship

In these times of terror, running down men in uniform should not have any political premium

The itch to attack the Government saw the Congress contesting the Navy’s claim that the Pakistani boat that blew up in the Arabian Sea, 365 km off India’s western coast, was part of a terror plot. A day after the intelligence agencies said that the crew was planning an “illicit transaction”, a Congress spokesman said that there was no evidence to suggest that there was a plan to unleash violence in India.

Expectedly, the BJP accused the Congress of playing ‘dirty politics’ over the boat issue and said the opposition party should have come out in support of the role played by the security forces in averting a possible terror attack. India’s vulnerability to terror attacks along the coastline was exposed in 2008 after a seaborne assault by terrorists on Mumbai.

Given this backdrop, political parties should allow the security forces to complete the investigation and not use the issue for partisan political purposes. In these times of terror, running down men in uniform should not have any political premium.

Arabian SeaCoast GuardIndian NavyPakistani boatterror