300-km-long unguarded coastline leaves Karnataka open to ‘jihad ship’

Mangaluru: Despite the navy chief Admiral Robin Dhowan raising the spectre of jihadis attacking India's coastline, the lack of co-ordination among multiple agencies on the ground and unscientific surveillance of fishermen, who have not all been issued  biometric smart cards even now as a precaution against a 26/11 kind of an attack,  has left Karnataka's 300-km long coastline vulnerable.

Although terrorists like Riyaz Bhatkal and Yasin Bhatkal hail from the region and coastal cities have been used as hideouts and for storing and transporting explosives to other parts of the country, little has been done to beef up security.

A coordination meeting of various departments like the Coast Guard, Coastal Security Police, civil police and fisheries department is held every month, but no serious brainstorming is done, according to district administration sources.

"There is hardly any intelligence sharing or chalking out of joint strategies and operations to tackle terror outfits and their infiltration," says an officer,  pointing out that intelligence sharing among the departments is very important as each of these agencies work in different areas.

"They should identify the loopholes and vulnerable points where terrorists can infiltrate and chalk out a coordinated programme to secure them, but all that happens is the officials get to know each other over a cup of tea," he rues.

The fisheries department did begin issuing smart cards for fishermen in Mangaluru about five years ago, but even today  a large number don't have them. 

"The Coast Guard or Coastal Security Police can verify if  fishermen onboard boats are genuine with the help of the biometric smart cards. But as the government has not made carrying them compulsory , hardly  50 per cent of the fishermen have them. The cards will serve their purpose only if they are  made mandatory," note sources.

Udupi and Mangaluru railway stations, which have also been used to transport explosives in the past, also don't have adequate security at their many exit points.

And although there is tight security at Mangalore International Airport , there is hardly anybody checking vehicles entering the ground.