Pakistan boat row: CG DIG B K Loshali to face court martial

“Given the severity of the officer’s action, he will face a court martial. The inquiry had recommended stringent action against him,” said a Defence Ministry source.

A Pakistani boat with “four persons” was intercepted off the Gujarat coast on the night of December 31. A release issued by the government had said that “the crew hid themselves below the deck compartment and set the boat on fire, which resulted in explosion and major fire on the boat.”

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However, Loshali, who was serving as Chief of Staff at the time, said on February 16 that he had ordered the boat to be blown off. “I hope you remember 31st December night. We blew off that Pakistan boat… I was there at Gandhinagar and I told at night, blow the boat off. We don’t want to serve them biryani,” Loshali had told a gathering of Coast Guard officials and staff from Larsen & Toubro during the launch of interceptor boat ICGS C-421.

Loshali’s comments, which were reported by this paper on February 18, and the release of a video of his speech had triggered a huge uproar.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, who was in Bengaluru at the time, had defended the government’s stand saying, “I will check if he has made the statement properly, word to word, whatever is reported. We will take action against the person if required.”