Pakistan trying to send terrorists via sea, says Indian Navy Chief Sunil Lanba

Indian Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba on Tuesday warned that there are reports about terrorists being trained to carry out operations through the sea. Addressing a gathering of global experts at the Indo-Pacific Regional Dialogue here, Lanba said the Pulwama attack was perpetrated by extremists that were "aided by a State" that seeks to destabilise India. Earlier, the Indian Air Force on February 26 conducted an air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist camp in Pakistan’s Balakot to avenge the Pulwama attack. It was the first time in more than a decade that Indian jets had crossed the LoC to strike against Pakistan. The Indian Air Force hit Jabha Top, a forested hilltop where the Jaish-e-Mohammed had its camp. 

"We also have reports of terrorists being trained to carry out operations in various modus operandi, including through the medium of the sea," he said. The 26/11 attack was carried out by 10 sea-borne terrorists of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, who hijacked an Indian fishing trawler to reach Mumbai and unleash mayhem.

ALSO READ | ‘Pakistan not complete without Kashmir’: Masood Azhar told cadres days before Pulwama attack 

The Navy chief said this part of the world had witnessed multiple forms of terrorism in recent years and few countries in the region had been spared.

The global nature that terrorism has acquired in the recent times has further enhanced the scope of this threat, Lanba said. "We have seen how quickly terror groups evolve across the globe. A particular brand of terror can well become a global problem in near future," Lanba warned.

India, however, faces a "far more serious" version of "state-sponsored" terrorism, he said.

"We recently saw the horrific scale of the extremist attack in Jammu and Kashmir about three weeks ago. This violence was perpetrated by extremists aided and abetted by a State that seeks to destabilise India," the Navy chief said without naming Pakistan.

On February 14, at least 42 CRPF personnel were killed in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district when a Jaish suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 30 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district that also left many critically wounded. More than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley, were travelling in the convoy of 78 vehicles when they were ambushed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway at Latoomode in Awantipora in south Kashmir. It was the first time in more than a decade that Indian jets had crossed the LoC to strike against Pakistan. The Indian Air Force hit Jabha Top, a forested hilltop where the Jaish-e-Mohammed had its camp.