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| Union Home Secy does not rule out more tunnels on IB, takes stock of security situation | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Aug 24: Union Home Secretary RK Singh, who today spent over two hours at the Octroi outpost of BSF at Suchetgarg in RS Pura sub-sector near here, asked the forces to remain vigilant, while saying that the possibility of the presence of more tunnels along the International Border (IB) was not ruled out.
Singh, who arrived here in the morning to review the security situation after the detection of a tunnel on the IB at Chilyari in Samba sub-sector last month, drove to the Octroi outpost where he had a meeting with BSF IG Rajiv Krishna, DIG, JS Oberoi and field officers of BSF.
The BSF men gave the Union Home Secretary a detailed account of the prevailing situation on the IB, especially after the tunnel detection and the incidents of Pak firing that followed.
Oberoi told ET over phone that they had a detailed meeting with Singh but said the details could not be shared due to security reasons.
The Union Home Secretary later told reporters that the possibility of more tunnels along the IB was not ruled out.
The one, which was discovered on July 28 last at Chilyari, had its one end somewhere in Pakistan. It had been dug over 500 mts into the Indian territory for the purpose of infiltrating militants.
Singh also made a reference to the abrupt jump in the incidents of unprovoked firing by Pakistan after the tunnel discovery.
He said the Pak firing was aimed at giving cover to the militants who were waiting to infiltrate into the Indian side. It was, however, mysterious why Pakistan had opened fire at a number of places along the IB, he added.
Pakistan has been firing on the Indian side since Aug 5, with BSF too returning the fire. One BSF jawan was killed in the firing.
The Home Secretary was also expected to hold meetings with intelligence agencies, police and civil administration.
He later flew to Srinagar, where he would meet Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
Due to the heightened tension on the borders, no sweets were exchanged by the two sides on the eve of Eid on Monday last.
The night before Eid, the Pak Rangers had resorted to heavy firing, targetting Mala Bela outpost of BSF in Akhnoor sub-sector. The firing had later spread to some other outposts too.
Sources said after the detection of the tunnel, which was to be used as an underground infiltration route, there was a lot of pressure on the trained militants in Pakistan to infiltrate into J&K and indulge in violence and mayhem.
The Pak border troops were also under immense pressure to facilitate infiltration, the sources added, saying the tunnel detection had frustrated them.
Sources said BSF personnel had been put on high alert on the IB to foil any infiltration attempt from across the borders. Night ambushes were also being laid on the border as part of the enhanced vigil, the sources added.
Sources said in the past less than a month, the troops had foiled almost every Pak bid to infiltrate militants into J&K.
On August 14, the day when the new dominion of Pakistan had come into existence in 1947, Indian border troops maintained complete silence on the IB and the LoC and did not fire even a single bullet.
But on the Indian Independence Day, i.e. on August 15, while the border troops gave sweets to their counterparts across the borders, the latter reciprocated by firing bullets on some Indian forward outposts. |
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