By PTI
JAMMU: Border Security Force personnel opened fire at a flying object that was spotted along the International Border in Arnia sector of Jammu district on Monday, an official said.
“At about 0530 hours, a blinking red and yellow light in the sky was observed by our forward troops in Arnia sector near the IB”, the official said.
Troops opened fire at the flying object following which it went towards Pakistan side, the official said.
The area is being searched with the help of police.
By PTI
JAMMU: BSF Director General (DG) S S Deswal on Monday said they are keeping a close watch on the situation in Afghanistan and are fully ready for all possible consequences.
He, however, described the developments in Afghanistan as that country’s internal matter.
Deswal, who was on a visit here to flag off the “freedom rally” of 100 cyclists of the Border Security Force (BSF) from Jammu to Gujarat as part of the 75th Independence Day celebrations, was replying to a reporter’s question on the fallout of the Taliban’s near-total takeover in Afghanistan on the Indo-Pak border in Jammu and Kashmir.
“What is happening in the neighbouring country is its internal matter, but we are keeping a close watch on the situation,” he told reporters at the Octerio Border Out Post (BoP) in the R S Pura sector.
“We are ready for all possible consequences,” he added.
Replying to another question on infiltration and the increased use of drones from across the border to ferry weapons, the BSF DG said as a responsible country, India is acting in accordance with the ceasefire agreement with Pakistan.
“We have not violated the ceasefire,” he added.
Referring to the use of drones, Deswal said security forces have thwarted most of the attempts to airdrop and smuggle narcotics and weapons.
“The drone threat is a challenge and we are handling it. In the coming days, technologically, we will be dealing with the issue more efficiently. Systems are being put in place,” he said.
On cross-border infiltration, Deswal said these incidents have been taking place for long and the security forces have foiled such attempts in the past.
He said matters between the two sides are resolved peacefully at flag meetings.
By PTI
SRINAGAR: One terrorist was killed while two security personnel were injured in an overnight encounter triggered by the ultras opening fire on a BSF convoy in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said Friday.
Two civilians were also injured in the exchange of fire, they said.
“So far, one terrorist has been killed. A complete search of the building (where the ultras had taken shelter) yet to be done,” Kashmir Inspector General of Police (IGP) Vijay Kumar said.
The IGP had Thursday said the two trapped terrorists belong to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
The encounter broke out after the militants opened fire on a BSF convoy on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.
There were no injuries in the initial attack.
“Around 3 pm, terrorists fired upon the convoy of BSF on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway near Malpora Mir Bazar area of Kulgam. However, the fire was retaliated by an ROP (road opening party) of police and security forces,” a police spokesman said.
Reinforcement of Police and Army reached immediately and cordoned off the area, he said.
“The force party ensured not to give any chance to the terrorists to escape. The terrorists managed to took shelter in a nearby huge building. The holed-up terrorists fired indiscriminately upon the joint party of police/security forces which was retaliated, leading to an encounter,” he said.
The spokesman said a CRPF and an Army personnel and two civilians got injured in the indiscriminate firing by the terrorists.
All the injured have been take to a hospital for treatment, he said.
Express News Service
CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Tuesday asked Union Home Minister Amit Shah to urgently provide 25 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and anti-drone gadgets for the Border Security Force (BSF) for protection from Pak-backed terror forces.
The CM said the potential targets are farmers, RSS, BJP, Shiv Sena, and other leaders. Citing the recent heavy influx of weapons, hand-grenades, and IEDs into the state, with Pakistan’s ISI also raising the ante ahead of the Independence Day and in the run-up to the Punjab Assembly polls, Amarinder told Shah at a meeting here this evening that the security situation was grave and needed the Centre’s immediate intervention.
He sought from the Union Home Minister CAPF deployment for Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Mohali, Patiala, Bathinda, Phagwara, and Moga, as well as anti-drone technology for the BSF deployed at the borders. He pointed to the potential threat to the security of vital infrastructure, installations and public meetings being attended by highly threatened individuals.
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Citing inputs from central and state agencies, corroborated by disclosures made by arrested terrorists, Amarinder said potential individual and mass indiscriminate targets include trains, buses and temples, prominent farmer leaders (specific inputs about five such farmer leaders had been received but they had refused to take security offered by Punjab and Haryana police), RSS Shakhas, Offices, RSS, BJP, Shiv Sena leaders based in Punjab, Deras, Nirankari Bhawans and Samagams.
Amarinder told Shah that between July 4 and August 8, 2021, foreign-based pro-Khalistani entities, working in close collaboration with the ISI, had managed to induct over 30 pistols, one MP4 Rifle, one AK-47 Rifle, around 35 hand-grenades, sophisticated laboratory-made tiffin bombs, over 6 Kg RDX and assorted hardware for fabrication of IEDs (9 detonators, 1 multiple timer device and fuse-wire).
He further informed the Union Home Minister that in the last 35 days, more than 17 deliveries of weapons, hand-grenades, explosives, and assorted IED fabrication hardware had come to the notice of the Punjab Police and the central agencies, which meant that consignments of weapons, hand-grenades, IEDs were delivered to Punjab based terror operatives on every second day in July with the trend continuing in August.
By PTI
CHANDIGARH: Two Pakistani intruders were shot dead by the Border Security Force along the International Border in Punjab’s Tarn Taran district, an official of the BSF said on Saturday.
The BSF troops noticed suspicious movement near the border fence at 8.48 pm on Friday, he said.
The BSP personnel asked the intruders to stop, but they did not pay heed to repeated warnings.
Sensing threat, the BSP troops opened fire, the official said.
By PTI
BANGAON: A BSF personnel has been arrested for allegedly raping a Bangladeshi woman, nabbed while illegally crossing over into India, on the pretext of interrogating her inside a camp of the paramilitary force in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, police said on Friday.
Acting on a complaint lodged by the survivor at Gaighata police station, the accused BSF sub-inspector was arrested on Thursday, a senior police officer said.
“The incident took place on the night of July 27. After it came to light, the BSF itself handed over the jawan to the local police and placed him under suspension,” a senior officer of the paramilitary force said.
The survivor and another woman, both hailing from Bangladesh’s Gopalganj, were arrested while illegally crossing over into India.
As per the survivor’s police complaint, the two women were arrested by personnel of the 158th battalion of the BSF while they were illegally entering India through the Jhaudanga border.
“She has alleged that the BSF personnel took both of them to the Kharer Math camp of the paramilitary force for questioning. When nobody was around, the accused trooper raped the woman on the pretext of interrogating her,” the police officer said, quoting the FIR.
The BSF personnel has been booked under Section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code, and produced before the Bangaon Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, which remanded him to two days in police custody, he said.
The woman’s confidential statement has been recorded by the magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC, and medical tests were conducted on her, the officer added.
By Express News Service
KOCHI: The Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL), on Wednesday, launched five vessels at one go from its building dock at Kochi. The new vessels are three Floating Border Outpost (FBOP) vessels for the BSF which will act as the strategic base stations at the borders. The other two are 8000 DWT Mini General Cargo Ships for JSW Shipping and Logistics Pvt Ltd.
The CSL officers said they achieved this rare feat, amidst the Covid pandemic and the lockdown restrictions. “The three FBOP vessels are important for the nation. We are proud to build these vessels indigenously for the safety of the country. JSW vessels, meanwhile, will be a boost for the business through coastal and inland waterways. We are glad to associate with JSW who has set in motion the most ambitious coastal and inland transportation systems in the country” said CSL’s chairman and managing director Madhu S Nair.
The three FBOP’s, with a length of 46 metres, are part of a series of nine vessels being built for the Water Wing of the Border Security Force. These vessels are designed in-house by CSL and classed by the Indian Register of Shipping. Each FBOP is designed with stowage arrangements for four fast patrol boats, which can be launched and hoisted using its davit system. The vessels will act as a floating base for the flotilla of fast patrol boats and will supply petrol, drinking water, and provisions to the smaller boats and are to be deployed on India’s eastern and western borders.
Meanwhile, the mini general Cargo Ships launched are part of a series of four similar ships being built for the JSW group. These ships are expected to ply on the Coastal route between Jaigarh Port and Dolvi Steel Plant in river Amba near Dharamtar port. These vessels are built and classed under the standards of the Indian Register of Shipping and will be used for the transportation of dry bulk cargo such as coal, iron ore, dolomite, and limestone. The vessels, with a length of 122 metres and height of 7.20 metres, and speed of 10 knots, will have 16 crew members.
The five vessels were launched by Rameetha K, scientist ‘G’, NPOL and wife of CMD, CSL, in the presence of Mukesh Tyagi, DIG (BSF), and Pranab K Jha, VP JSW Shipping and other officers.
By PTI
RAIPUR: A Border Security Force (BSF) jawan allegedly died by suicide after he shot himself using a service weapon in Chhattisgarh’s insurgency-hit Kanker district, a police official said on Wednesday.
Constable Lakshman N G (30), belonging to the BSF’s 81st battalion, allegedly shot himself with the Insas rifle at his unit’s camp in Karkpal village under Kodekurse police station limits at around 10 am on Tuesday, the official said.
After hearing the gunshots, his colleagues rushed to the spot and shifted the injured jawan to a local primary health centre.
He was later airlifted to Raipur in a BSF helicopter and admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Raipur where he succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday night, the official said.
The constable, who hailed from Karnataka, had returned to duty on July 7 after over a month-long leave, he said.
No suicide note was found at the spot and the exact reason behind his extreme step was yet to be ascertained, the official said, adding that a case has been registered in this connection.
The BSF is extensively deployed in Kanker district for anti-Maoist operations and has its frontier headquarters in Bhilai town of Durg district.
In December last year, a BSF constable had allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself at his unit’s camp in Koyalibeda area of Kanker.
By PTI
NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah Saturday asserted that unfenced gaps along India’s over 7,500-km-long land border will be sealed by the end of this year, thus covering areas that lead to infiltration and smuggling of arms and narcotics.
He also asserted that India’s security policy was either “influenced or was overlapping” with the foreign policy and it was only after Narendra Modi became prime minister that the country got an independent security strategy.
Shah also gave away gallantry medals to the serving personnel and to the family members of those who were killed in the line of duty from the country’s largest frontier force.
“I assure that there will be no gap in our fencing from 2022,” he said.
Shah said about three per cent of the unfenced area leaves a “big gap” and makes the border vulnerable for infiltration of terrorists and other border crimes like smuggling of arms, ammunition and narcotics among others.
The Modi government has been plugging these gaps after resolving administrative obstacles and even by talking to neighbouring countries, he said.
“I believe that (ensuring) border security is (ensuring) national security,” Shah said adding they are developing a “new model” of the border fence that cannot be cut or broken.
He also spoke about the security policy of the Modi government.
“I used to think if there is a security policy of this country or not? Till Narendra Modi became the prime minister we did not have any independent security policy,” Shah said.
“It was either influenced by foreign policy or it was overlapping with the foreign policy,” he said.
After Modi became prime minister, the country got an independent security policy.
“Our idea is to have peaceful relations with all but if someone disturbs our borders, if someone challenges our sovereignty, the priority of our security policy is that such an attempt will be replied in the same language,” Shah said.
He said this security policy was a “big achievement” as the country wanted such a good plan.
“I believe without this (security policy) neither the country can progress nor democracy can prosper,” the home minister said “Modiji (PM) has done this big job.
I do not want to give examples as it is well known,” he said adding the policy was made operational on the ground by his government.
Shah said India was working to soon develop an indigenous counter-drone technology, which is being carried out by technical organisations like the DRDO and some other agencies.
His comments came in the backdrop of the first-ever drone attack on the IAF station in Jammu last month where two unmanned aerial vehicles dropped bombs injuring two airmen and damaging a portion of a building inside.
He added that the security establishment of the country is preparing a long-drawn project to thwart artificial intelligence and robotic technology enabled attacks from across the borders.
Shah gave out figures to showcase how the Modi government worked to enhance and fortify border security.
He said while only 3,600 km of border roads were made between 2008-14, the period between 2014-20 (Modi being the PM) it has seen a jump of 3.5 times with 4,764 km of these roads being constructed.
The budget for this job was enhanced from Rs 23,000 crore to 44,000 crore, a total of 14,450 metres of bridges were made during 2014-20 as compared to 7,270 metres made during 2008-14, he said.
While one border tunnel for transportation was made earlier, six tunnels have been made by the Modi government in the last one year while 19 such structures are in the pipeline, Shah said.
Similarly, a total of 170 km of border roads were resurfaced during 2008-14 and it was enhanced to 380 km after the Modi government came to power.
The cutting and formatting of roads along the China border has now been enhanced to 470 km per year as compared to the earlier 230 km per year.
Shah said the government has sanctioned 32 more border roads measuring about 683 km for the Sino-India frontier.
“The prime minister believes that till border infrastructure is upgraded and strengthened the security forces will not be able to do their job properly.”
“The PM has said that if border infrastructure is not proper the local population will continue to migrate from these areas and this will make our borders unsafe,” he said.
The home minister stressed that forces like the BSF should take steps to ensure that border population is provided all basic amenities and that they do not migrate to other area because of these issues.
The officers of these forces should execute “out of routine” thinking and plan so that we are two steps ahead of the adversary, he said.
He asked them to maintain “regular touch” with their troops, resolve their problems and also take feedback from them.
BSF DG Rakesh Asthana said during the event that the force has made 61 drone sightings and unearthed 4 tunnels along the western front in the last one year.
The about 2.65 lakh personnel strong BSF guards over 6,300 km of Indian fronts with Pakistan and Bangladesh on the east.
Ministers of state for home Nityanand Rai, Ajay Kumar Mishra, home secretary Ajay Bhalla, Intelligence Bureau director Arvind Kumar and RAW chief Samant Goel attended the event.
By PTI
JAMMU: The Border Security Force (BSF) on Friday opened fire on a suspected Pakistani surveillance drone after it tried to venture into the Indian territory on the International Border here, officials said.
The drone was spotted by the alert BSF personnel in Arnia sector on the outskirts of Jammu around 4:25 am, they said.
The officials said the suspected drone returned to the Pakistani side when the border guards fired half a dozen rounds to bring it down.
“Alert BSF troops fired at a small quadcopter belonging to Pakistan today (Friday) morning as it was trying to cross the International Border (IB) in the Arnia sector. Due to this firing, it returned immediately,” a BSF spokesperson said.
He said it was meant for carrying out surveillance of the area.
Security forces in Jammu and Kashmir are on high alert following the Sunday’s drone attack on the Indian Air Force (IAF) station here.
Two explosives-laden drones crashed into the IAF station at Jammu airport in the early hours of Sunday, perhaps the first time that suspected Pakistan-based terrorists have used unmanned aerial vehicles in an attack, officials said.
Drones were spotted hovering over vital Army installations in different areas of Jammu during night hours on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday as well.
While the Army said it thwarted a drone activity on its brigade headquarters at Kaluchak and Ratnuchak during the intervening night of Sunday-Monday, it neither confirmed nor denied the movement of drones over its military stations at Sunjwan, Miran Sahib, Kaluchak and Ratnuchak during the subsequent days.