News Analysis India

Tag: International Border

  • Better to close down dozen offices than losing a single human life: Union Min on Pandits terror threat

    By PTI

    JAMMU: Indicating a thaw in the government’s stance on relocation of under-threat Kashmiri Pandit employees from the valley, Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday said it is better to save a human life even if it means closing down a dozen offices.

    He also hit out at the opposition parties accusing them of following the policy of appeasement to the extent of being “inhuman”.

    He alleged that these parties not only discriminated between people but also went to the extent of discriminating between Line of Control and International Border purely for vote considerations.

    “This should be addressed amicably and with sensitivity. My personal opinion is that nothing can be more valuable than a human life,” the minister told reporters in Kathua.

    “If there is a threat even to one life, it is better to save that life even if it means closing down a dozen offices.” Singh was in Kathua to lay the foundation stone of central PMGSY road from Bakhta to Magloor in Jalota area.

    ALSO READ| Chalk out middle path to address issues of Kashmiri Pandits: Mehbooba Mufti

    Addressing a public rally after the ceremony, Singh said the previous governments headed by opposition parties crossed all limits of ethics and propriety when they allowed reservation for people living along LoC but denied the same benefits to the people living along the IB.

    “They did so because their MLAs were elected from the areas along the LoC, some of whom also became the ministers. They denied the same benefit to the people living along IB or on the Pakistan border, mostly in Kathua and Samba districts, because the people here did not vote for them,” the Union minister said.

    He said this discrepancy was corrected only after the Modi government came to power when the people living near the IB were given justice with the grant of four per cent reservation, the same as people living along LoC.

    ALSO READ| Kashmiri Pandits hold barefoot march in Jammu, demand to ensure their ‘Right to Life’

    Singh also said the government was making efforts to set up a satellite hospital and Tata Cancer Centre in Kathua.

    “This will provide the latest hi-tech facility for cancer patients from J&K, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh.”

    ALSO READ| Will turn colonies into ‘graveyards’, militants to Pandits

    On Keedian Gandyal bridge, he said it was not constructed over the last 70 years because it would have benefitted mere 2,000 people, but “we had the courage and conviction to construct a bridge for these people at a cost of over Rs 150 Crore”.

    Along the route of the holy Machil Yatra before 2014 there were neither toilets, nor mobile connectivity, nor electricity because these people did not figure in their list of the vote bank, he said.

    ALSO READ| Nine Kashmiri Pandits killed in Jammu and Kashmir in 3 years: Govt

    “It is this government which set up toilets and mobile towers there and recently sanctioned one exclusive solar power plant for the village,” he added.

    Referring to one of the first Industrial Biotech Parks which has been set up in Kathua, Singh said people will realise its worth over a period of time.

    He said that due to the Modi government the Shahpur Kandi project was revived after 40 years, and the Ujh multipurpose irrigation project, which was conceived for the first-time during Maharaja’s rule, is also scheduled to take off very soon.

    JAMMU: Indicating a thaw in the government’s stance on relocation of under-threat Kashmiri Pandit employees from the valley, Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday said it is better to save a human life even if it means closing down a dozen offices.

    He also hit out at the opposition parties accusing them of following the policy of appeasement to the extent of being “inhuman”.

    He alleged that these parties not only discriminated between people but also went to the extent of discriminating between Line of Control and International Border purely for vote considerations.

    “This should be addressed amicably and with sensitivity. My personal opinion is that nothing can be more valuable than a human life,” the minister told reporters in Kathua.

    “If there is a threat even to one life, it is better to save that life even if it means closing down a dozen offices.” Singh was in Kathua to lay the foundation stone of central PMGSY road from Bakhta to Magloor in Jalota area.

    ALSO READ| Chalk out middle path to address issues of Kashmiri Pandits: Mehbooba Mufti

    Addressing a public rally after the ceremony, Singh said the previous governments headed by opposition parties crossed all limits of ethics and propriety when they allowed reservation for people living along LoC but denied the same benefits to the people living along the IB.

    “They did so because their MLAs were elected from the areas along the LoC, some of whom also became the ministers. They denied the same benefit to the people living along IB or on the Pakistan border, mostly in Kathua and Samba districts, because the people here did not vote for them,” the Union minister said.

    He said this discrepancy was corrected only after the Modi government came to power when the people living near the IB were given justice with the grant of four per cent reservation, the same as people living along LoC.

    ALSO READ| Kashmiri Pandits hold barefoot march in Jammu, demand to ensure their ‘Right to Life’

    Singh also said the government was making efforts to set up a satellite hospital and Tata Cancer Centre in Kathua.

    “This will provide the latest hi-tech facility for cancer patients from J&K, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh.”

    ALSO READ| Will turn colonies into ‘graveyards’, militants to Pandits

    On Keedian Gandyal bridge, he said it was not constructed over the last 70 years because it would have benefitted mere 2,000 people, but “we had the courage and conviction to construct a bridge for these people at a cost of over Rs 150 Crore”.

    Along the route of the holy Machil Yatra before 2014 there were neither toilets, nor mobile connectivity, nor electricity because these people did not figure in their list of the vote bank, he said.

    ALSO READ| Nine Kashmiri Pandits killed in Jammu and Kashmir in 3 years: Govt

    “It is this government which set up toilets and mobile towers there and recently sanctioned one exclusive solar power plant for the village,” he added.

    Referring to one of the first Industrial Biotech Parks which has been set up in Kathua, Singh said people will realise its worth over a period of time.

    He said that due to the Modi government the Shahpur Kandi project was revived after 40 years, and the Ujh multipurpose irrigation project, which was conceived for the first-time during Maharaja’s rule, is also scheduled to take off very soon.

  • International Border in Jammu frontier incident free, safe: BSF IG

    Drone activity has also largely decreased in Jammu and the majority of weapons and other materials dropped from unmanned aerial vehicles have also been recovered, said BSF Inspector General.

  • Two Bangladeshis killed during cattle smuggling bid along border: BSF

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Two Bangladeshis were killed on Friday when the BSF opened fire along the International Border in West Bengal’s Coochbehar to thwart a cattle smuggling bid, a force spokesperson said.

    A jawan of the border force was also injured and has been evacuated to a nearby hospital.

    The spokesperson said the incident took place around 3 am when “miscreants from Bangladesh side ventured into the Indian territory and tried to smuggle cattle heads by establishing improvised bamboo cantilever.”

    The Border Security Force (BSF) troops ahead of the India-Bangladesh border fence asked them to go back but they did not pay heed, he said.

    “BSF troops utilised non-lethal munition to deter the miscreants, but they attacked on the troops with iron dah and sticks. Sensing imminent threat to the life, BSF party fired in air towards miscreants,” the spokesperson said.

    “Later on during search, bodies of two unknown miscreants were found between the border fence and international boundary,” the spokesperson said.

  • Green nod to infra projects along border in Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:  In a push to increasing vigil along the India-China border in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, the Union environment ministry has given approval to over 40 infrastructure projects, mainly in areas of recent skirmishes, for construction of approach roads and tunnels, setting up of border outposts and deployment of operational assets to strengthen defence coverage. 

    The posts and roads cleared will strengthen vigil in the area of recent flashpoints between Indian and Chinese forces. The projects passing through wildlife sanctuaries and reserves were taken up by the ministry’s Standing Committee of National Board for Wildlife (SC-NBWL). The projects have been cleared after members of the committee unanimously agreed that “proposals  may  be  recommended  in  view  of  the importance  of  the  border  outposts  for national  security”.    

    The SC-NBWL recommended over 30 proposals for construction of border outposts by Indo-Tiberan Border Police and road passing through the Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary and Karakoram Wildlife Sanctuary in Ladakh.

    The ministry also approved nine proposals for setting up border outposts in a total of 13.4 hectare passing from Dibang Wildlife Sanctuary. “Distance of these outposts from the international border ranges from 4 km to 11 km. The border outposts are important from a defence point of view   in areas passing through wildlife sanctuaries and reserves,” informed the Chief Wildlife Warden, Arunachal Pradesh.  

    The proposal for construction of Nechipu Tunnel with an approach road  to  connect  the  already  existing  BCT  (Balipara-Charidwar-Tawang)  Road  was approved after the committee was apprised that the proposed tunnel will bypass a  dense fog zone where visibility  is at times restricted to 4-5 metres. This is used by the army  and local residents.

    A proposal for use of 9.51 hectare of forest land from Bahu Conservation Reserve for deployment of operational assets to strengthen defence coverage to Jammu Region by Indian Air Force was approved. “The proposed area has proximity with the Army base in Sunjwan and it will strengthen  defence coverage to the Jammu region,” the committee was told.

  • BSF foils bid to bring in weapons from Pakistan along IB, big cache of arms seized

    By PTI

    JAMMU: The Border Security Force (BSF) on Thursday foiled a major bid by terrorists to smuggle in weapons from Pakistan along the International Border (IB) and seized a big cache of arms and ammunition in Jammu and Kashmir’s Samba district, officials said.

    “The BSF, Jammu today foiled a weapon smuggling attempt from across the International Border in Samba area and seized a big cache of arms and ammunition,” BSF DIG S P S Sandhu said.

    He further said the seizure by BSF troops included four pistols, eight pistol magazines and 232 rounds of ammunition.

    The DIG said further details are expected to follow.

    There have been several incidents of weapons and narcotic smuggling attempts done by cross-border terrorists to drop weapons on this side of the border through drones over the past six months.

    It may be recalled that an arms consignment including one AK assault rifle, three magazines and 30 rounds believed to have been dropped by a drone from Pakistan had been recovered last Saturday by police near the International Border from Sounjana village of Phalain Mandal, about six km from the IB.

    On September 27, BSF recovered four pistols, eight magazines, 100 rounds of ammunition, a packet of narcotics weighing about one kg along with fake Indian currency worth Rs 2,75,000, from the International Border in Akhnoor sector of Jammu district, officials said.

  • Arms consignment dropped by Pakistan drone recovered near IB in Jammu

    By PTI

    JAMMU: An arms consignment believed to have been dropped by a drone from Pakistan has been recovered by police near the International Border here, officials said on Sunday.

    The recovery made from the dropped packet included an AK assault rifle, three magazines, 30 rounds and a telescope, the officials said.

    They said the recovery was made from Sounjana village of Phalain Mandal, about six km from the IB, late Saturday night after a villager informed police about a humming sound and dropping of a payload by a suspected drone from Pakistan.

    Police immediately cordoned off the village and launched a search operation during which a yellow packet tied to strings and a wooden base to carry the payload was found, leading to the recovery of the arms and ammunition, the officials said.

    A case has been registered and efforts are on to identify the persons who were supposed to receive the consignment on the Indian side.

    Drone activities from Pakistan have witnessed an alarming increase over the past one year, posing a major challenge to security forces guarding the borders.

    Security forces shot down two drones and recovered a large quantity of payloads including rifles, Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), sticky bombs and narcotics at different places over the past one year.

    The security grid at the border was also intensified after the dropping of two bombs by drones at the Indian Air Force (IAF) station in Jammu in June this year.

  • Meghalaya: BSF hands over 13-year-old Bangladeshi boy to BGB

    By PTI

    SHILLONG: The Border Security Force (BSF) handed over a 13-year-old Bangladeshi boy, who was apprehended while illegally crossing the international border in Meghalaya, to the BGB in a goodwill gesture, officials said on Sunday.

    A woman smuggler and the boy were apprehended on September 24 while illegally crossing the India-Bangladesh border through the unfenced area at Nongkhen in Meghalaya for petty smuggling, a BSF statement said.

    Both the woman and the boy hail from Sylhet district of Bangladesh.

    The woman revealed that she brought the minor boy with her as labour for carrying items meant for smuggling into India, the BSF said.

    The boy was handed over to Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) during a flag meeting on Saturday in presence of police representatives as a goodwill gesture and the apprehended Bangladeshi woman was handed over to police station Baghmara for further legal action, the statement said.

    BSF Meghalaya Frontier Inspector General Inderjit Singh Rana said the goodwill gesture was adopted by the BSF as a humanitarian approach in such cases where the victims are minors.

    “Both the border guarding forces have developed an understanding on such subjects and these issues are amicably resolved to strengthen the existing relationship and to enhance mutual trust between both the neighbouring countries,” he said.

  • J&K police shoots down drone carrying IED material in Jammu, averts terror plot

    By PTI
    JAMMU: The Jammu and Kashmir police averted a cross-border terror plot by shooting down a drone carrying improvised explosive device (IED) material weighing five kg in the border belt of Jammu district on Friday, officials said.

    Following information about a drone flying over the border belt of Kanachak along the International Border (IB), a quick reaction team (QRT) of the police swung into action and shot it down using anti-drone strategy in the early hours, they added.

    “At about 1 am, the drone made a low flight to release the payload (IED), when it was shot down,” Additional Director General of police (ADGP) Mukesh Singh told reporters here.

    He said the drone was carrying a payload of five-kg IED material in a semi-assembled state and only wires had to be connected to it to trigger a blast.

    According to a preliminary analysis, the flying object was a hexa m-copter with six wings and had a GPS device and a flight controller, the officer said.

    “A possible IED blast has been prevented,” he added.

    There is a one-digit difference in the serial number of this drone and the drone shot down in Kathua last year, which points towards the fact that terrorist organisations across the border such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) have acquired flight controllers and are sending drones with arms and IEDs to the Indian side, the ADGP said.

    He said the drone shot down on Friday was an assembled one made up of equipment from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

    Another interesting information is that the string used to drop the payload from the drone was similar to the one found from the crater site of the Jammu Air Force station, which confirms that a drone was used to drop an IED at the airport, the officer said.

    According to the ADGP, the drone used in Kathua had entered 30 kilometres inside the border and the distance travelled by such flying objects depends on the weight of the payload.

    The drones that dropped consignments of AK-47 rifles earlier in the border areas had a range of 0-12 kilometres from the border.

    The recoveries of weapons dropped from drones in the border areas over the last one-and-a-half years included 16 AK-47 rifles, four M4 US rifles, 24 pistols, 15 grenades and 18 IEDs, he said, adding that currency notes were also seized.

    Replying to a question, the officer said the IED material was well packed and someone had to pick it up from the Indian side and trigger a blast.

    “We waited for the person, but nobody came,” he added.

    The ADGP said the JeM and the LeT are using drones for terror attacks and sending weapons to their operatives on the Indian side of the border.

    This information was obtained from those arrested in connection with around 24-25 such drone sorties in the last one-and-a-half years, he added.

    According to the officials, the drone was flying seven to eight kilometres inside the border.

  • Lashkar’s role behind drone surge, says J&K DGP Dilbagh Singh

    Express News Service
    SRINAGAR:  Amid rising instances of drone sighting near the International Border and military installations in Jammu region, Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbagh Singh on Monday said militant outfits were continuously attempting to use drones for militant activities.

    Chairing a high-level joint security meeting at Police Headquarters, Jammu, Singh said: “Lashkar’s role has been established in most of the arms smuggling through drones along the LoC and International Border.” He said that modern technology has been deployed to counter the threat.

    On June 27, two drones dropped low intensity Improvised Explosive Devices on an IAF base in Jammu, damaging the rooftop of one of the buildings and injuring two personnel. After June 27, there have been about six instances of drone sightings on the border or over military installations in Jammu region.

    On July 14, BSF thwarted a drone activity on the Indian side of the International Border in Arnia sector of Jammu. The border guards fired at the drone forcing it to retreat.

  • Narcotics smuggler shot dead by BSF along IB in J-K

    By PTI
    JAMMU: A narcotics smuggler was shot dead by the BSF along the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district and 27 kg of heroin worth crores of rupees recovered from his possession on Wednesday, officials said.

    A spokesperson of the Border Security Force (BSF) said the incident took place in the border outpost (BOP) Pansar area of Hiranagar sector.

    BSF personnel noticed the smuggler trying to sneak into Indian territory from the other side of the border.

    They shot him after he ignored their warnings and tried to flee, he said.

    The identity of the smuggler is being ascertained.

    A senior officer said the value of the drugs recovered during the operation is estimated to be over Rs 100 crore in the international market.

    The spokesperson pointed out that earlier on January 23, the BSF had detected a 150-metre underground tunnel, which was meant to facilitate the infiltration of terrorists from Pakistan for carrying out subversive activities, in the BOP Pansar area.