Explain Who Blew Up Fishing Boat, Says Pakistan to India

Islamabad:

Pakistan says India must explain what caused a Pakistani fishing boat to explode, killing four people on board on New Year's Eve,  after a senior coast guard official said it was deliberately targeted. BK Loshali, Deputy Inspector General of the  Coast Guard, is shown in a video released by the Indian Express newspaper saying he gave an order to attack the boat as it approached Indian waters off the Gujarat coast.

The comments contradict the government's version that the boat laden with explosives was intercepted by the coast guard because it was planning an unspecified illegal transaction and the people on board set it on fire, causing it to explode.

"I hope you remember 31st December, we blew off the Pakistani,"  Mr Loshali said in the video. "I was there at Gandhinagar and I told at night blow the boat off. We don't want to serve them biryani."

"India has once again proved to be heinous in its face, design and urge for peace," said Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, according to local media.  "It has once again been proven that India has violated international rules and disregarded the humanitarian considerations."

The development comes as India and Pakistan's foreign secretaries are set to resume dialogue next month.  In August, India cancelled talks after Pakistan's envoy in New Delhi  hosted Kashmiri separatists in the run-up to those talks. Cross-border violence in October was the worst in over a decade.

At a news conference on Wednesday, Mr Loshali denied making the statements and said he was not in a position to know what happened that day because he did not handle the operation.
"I have been misquoted; the boat actually set itself on fire and sunk,"  the officer said. "I was not privy to whatever was happening at that ground that day."

After his comments, the Indian Express released the video.

Opposition politicians have demanded an explanation from the government.  
 

Video courtesy: The Indian Express. NDTV has no independent verification of its authenticity