Pakistan Navy's terror shadow darkens

Intelligence agencies say training on at several centres like the one at Badin; Indian Navy Chief hints Mumbai killers were trained by Pak Navy

Pakistan has been promising loudly that it is serious about dismantling the terror network on its territory. But as always, it seems that these are nothing but noises. Indian intelligence agencies believe that nothing much has changed on the ground and elite training centres of the Pakistan Navy are still grooming terrorists like the ones who attacked Mumbai on November 26, 2008.

According to sources in intelligence agencies, Pak-based militants are being given maritime training at several Navy centres in Muridke and Karachi apart from the one at Badin in southwest Pakistan, where the Mumbai killers might have come from. MiD DAY was the first to report on December 2, 2008 that civilians were being trained at Pakistan's fortress-like Badin naval base ("Killers learnt sea tricks at Pak Navy base"). The naval base at Sindh's Badin is a couple of hundred kilometres from Karachi and is very close to the Indian maritime border at Sir Creek in Gujarat and India's waters in the Arabian Sea.

"The Pakistan Navy and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) are using several water bodies located in and around Karachi and Muridke to train militants in marine operations. Mangla Dam, which is located opposite to the Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir, is also used to train them in deep water diving and swimming," said a senior officer from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), requesting anonymity.

Even the Indian Navy Chief, Admiral Sureesh Mehta, recently hinted at the possible involvement of the Pakistani Navy in the training of the 26/11 perpetrators. "Of course, there is indirect support.....some professional organisations could be involved," said Admiral Mehta, while talking about the Mumbai terror attacks.

"The Mumbai attack terrorists might have been trained at any of the Pakistan Navy bases. One such centre could be Badin where the Pakistan Navy trains its elite Special Operations Group (SSG). In the last one year we have been getting information about civilians being given special training there," added the MHA official.

The Badin centre trains Pakistani commandoes in swift sea-borne operations using small speedboats, exactly the way the terrorists had reached Mumbai. People trained at Badin can handle dangers of the high seas even when they are sailing in light, accident-prone boats.

However, the Pakistan Navy's activities are being watched by global intelligence agencies including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the US. "The CIA and other Western intelligence agencies are closely watching the activities going in Pakistan. This has also made Pakistan become more careful about maintaining utmost secrecy," said former joint director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) MK Dhar.

Vice-Admiral (Retd) Pradeep Kaushiva, talking on the issue, said, "All the evidence of Pakistan Navy's base at Badin being used for terror training neatly dovetails into the marine commando capability demonstrated by the 26/11 criminals."

When asked about the present status of Badin, he said, "There is no evidence to show that there has been any change in the activities at Badin or in the character of the trainees therein. We must also believe that for every one trained terrorist unmasked there would be at least five back-ups and perhaps another five somewhat less trained reserves. All these can be called up at short notice and re-familiarised at any other locale before being deployed in future."