One thing that is becoming increasingly clear from the terror attack in Mumbai on November 26 is that this is the first time that the terror attack came directly through the sea route.

Despite the fact that terrorists have taken the sea route on their way to the Kashmir valley and, in spite of the fact that the security forces had alerts which were overlooked under the impression that they were routine advisories, the assault did pose a surprise element. This took the security agencies as well as the entire country by surprise just as the terrorist attack through air strikes on World Trade Centre in United States of America took the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Investigation Agency by surprise.

Geographically speaking, the Indian landmass is peninsular which means that it is covered by water on three sides. The Bay of Bengal borders the eastern states, the Indian ocean helms in the southern states and the Arabian Sea marks the western borders.

India has a coastline extends over 7,600 km and borders 9 states. The coastline covers Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa in the west; Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh in the south; and Orissa and West Bengal in the east. Strategically, this is one of the most coveted locations on the world map from defence point of view and it could turn India into a naval super power. But, this also places a huge responsibility on the states to patrol these water effectively.

One of the points that has surfaced again and again both from security agencies and political bosses is that our borders along the coastline are porous in nature and that a lot needs to be done to ensure a tight security.

We have some Naval stations along the coastline. We also have the Coast Guards to patrol our coastal area. If this is not sufficient, the central government should immediately prepare a blue print for state marine security forces for all the nine states and provide assistance to set them up on a war footing. Funds must be pooled in from the central and state sources as this is a matter of concern for the states as well as the Indian Union.

Some newspaper reports claimed that some coast guards had let the trawler used by the terrorists pass after accepting hefty bribes. This should be investigated and the guilty brought to book as we cannot afford to let those who compromise on the security of the nation go scot-free. If this is true, establishing a vigilance cell in each of these security agencies would be a good idea to preempt any such attempt.