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Security grid along the porous Indo-Pak border needs revamp
JAMMU: The deadliest attack on an army base in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir on September 18 has yet again exposed gaping holes along the 744-km long Line of Control
JAMMU: The deadliest attack on an army base in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir on September 18 has yet again exposed gaping holes along the 744-km long Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan.
Pakistan raised an embankment after the 2002 Indo-Pak ceasefire agreement on their side of Punjab province along the 198km international border (IB) with Jammu region. A home department official said India shelved a project of acquiring 135-feet-wide land along the length of the border.
While the Border Security Force (BSF) guards IB, the army protects the 744-km LoC, a rugged terrain that witnesses snowfall and avalanches in winters and landslides and floods during monsoons. At least 40 points along the LoC in Kashmir are identified as infiltration areas.
“The BSF presently has an anti-infiltration obstacle system (AIOS) in place that includes border fence, electric live wires, sensors, sirens, foot patrols, floodlights, other surveillance devices, including hand-held thermal imagers. We also have raised laser walls in some of the riverine gaps,” said a top BSF source.
In winters, terrorists shift their focus from the LoC to the IB, largely a plain area, to infiltrate. The BSF is the first line of defence at the IB followed by a minuscule presence of troops from the Western Command and then comes the turn of border police and village defence committees in Kathua, Samba and Jammu districts.
“The AIOS is not a foolproof system…it remains vulnerable,” said a senior army officer.
The AIOS, which costs `8 crore per km, is buried under several feet of snow in winters when infiltrators can simply walk over it and enter India.
After the attack on the Pathankot air base last January, the Centre had decided to set up a comprehensive integrated border management system comprising CCTV cameras, thermal imagers and night-vision devices, surveillance radar, underground monitoring sensors and laser barriers to plug the porous border.
“The project has been started in a couple of stretches in Jammu on an experimental basis but it has not gained the desired momentum. It moves at a snail’s pace,” said the officer.
