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| INS KHUKRI A 1350-tonne missile corvette. The Khukri is named after the only combat vessel the Indian Navy has ever lost — in the 1971 war (torpedoed by Pakistani submarine PNS Hangor) |
| The INS Sumitra and the INS Khukri at the Calcutta port on Tuesday morning before they were pulled out. The ships left in the afternoon, instead of Friday as scheduled. Picture by Anup Bhattacharya |
Calcutta, Nov. 4: The Indian Navy today pulled out two warships from the Calcutta port, citing “operational reasons”, after an alert of a possible terror strike that could damage the vessels.
The alert is understood to have specified that militants in the guise of visitors or staff who have access to the port could threaten the security of the berths and assets on the waterside in Kidderpore.
Terror alerts are fairly routine but the Burdwan blast last month has added an edge to the latest intelligence input.
The naval ships that have been pulled out had docked in Calcutta on Monday and had been scheduled to be berthed till Friday. The public was invited to visit the ships till Thursday — a practice followed by the navy every year in the weeks leading to Navy Day (December 4).
Security has been beefed-up at the Calcutta port following a specific threat gleaned by central agencies. The Bengal government was communicated the intelligence report, and the state in turn advised the Indian Navy to take precautions.
Senior officials of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), that is primarily responsible for landward security of the port, said the alert was received on Monday evening.
“Following the specific input, we held a meeting today to review our security arrangements and preparedness. Patrolling has been intensified at the various installations inside the port complex,” said a senior CISF official.
One central security officer said “commercial ships with armed men as security guards on board pose a threat”. A large number of merchant vessels have armed men on board as security guards, mostly to fight off pirate attacks.
“Some terrorists with ulterior motives may try to infiltrate into India disguising themselves as security guards and pose a threat to national security,” said the source.
“These ships carry arms for safety and there is no check on them as they move into the country. There are chances of pilferage and it poses a serious threat to the security and safety of the country. An alert is sounded across ports in the country and all movement has to be monitored, especially Calcutta port and Haldia port,” said the officer.
Riverine territory of around 200km is said to be under surveillance now.
An official in Calcutta said this evening: “Although the report mentioned that the tip-off was somewhat unreliable as it had come from uncorroborated sources, it was treated with seriousness.”
An alert has been sounded in areas that fall under two police stations — South Port and West Port — that cover the Calcutta port stretch.
“One of the most sophisticated hovercraft from our fleet has already been pressed into service as a part of the vigil,” said Sharad Mantri, DIG, the Indian Coast Guard.
The fallout of an attack on the Indian warships — targets for an adversarial military — cannot be understated.
The threat perception of militant attacks on naval installations across South Asia increased several notches since a militant attack in Karachi, Pakistan, last year. On September 6 this year, the Pakistani Navy claimed it had killed two attackers and lost one of its officers in foiling an attempt on its dockyard in Karachi. This month, too, Karachi police claimed that they had foiled another attempt on the port there.
The navy said the INS Khukri and the INS Sumitra were recalled for “undisclosed ‘operational reasons’ on orders by the Eastern Naval Command Headquarters today”.
Officially, the navy said the departure of the ships had “nothing to do with any terror alert”.
“The alacrity by which Indian warships are ready for operation at a short notice was demonstrated by the quick turnaround of the two visiting warships, amply showcasing Indian Navy’s prompt readiness…,” a defence statement said.
The sources said a group of 60 street children, including orphans, were escorted through the ships before they were recalled today.
The visit of the children from the NGOs, Magic Bus India Foundation and Purbanchal Udayan Sangha, was arranged by the local unit of the Naval Wives Welfare Association.
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