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| India-Pakistan | ||
| Pakistan restless as India ups vigil on border | ||
| 2010-05-26 | ||
| ABDULLIAN (Indo-Pak border), RS Pura : "Wahan kuch harkat hai, jaldi check karo,'' a BSF official instructs his subordinate who grabs his binoculars and focusses in the direction of some bushes while holding his weapon at the ready. "Kuch nahi, saab, khargosh hai,'' he replies. "Cheh foot (six feet) ka khargosh toh nahi hain?'' the official asks the trooper smiling, an allusion to a Pakistani intruder who was shot dead trying to sneak in through the fence a few days earlier. Though vigil on this border has always been high, it is getting tighter. India is realigning the fencing and shifting high mast lights closer to the zero line on its side of the border. This is making the Pakistan Rangers jittery, and cross-border firing is a live possibility.
Fence realignment here is almost over and two new bunkers are ready for occupation, overlooking a stretch of the road leading to Sialkot, Pakistan, 14 km away on the other side. Once they move in, the BSF will be able to monitor movements along the zero line lit up by high mast lights. Pakistan is yelling blue murder. "They argue during flag meetings or write protest letters. Otherwise, they open heavy gun fire. But the fact remains that the work is going on inside Indian territory,'' a BSF official said. Efforts to move closer to the border have been made for several years but Pakistan Rangers and militants used to open fire, making it virtually impossible for the BSF to work on the fencing. India had to be content with erecting the fence several hundred metres away from the zero line, making it easier for militants to sneak in under covering fire by the Rangers. "We lost jawans even when we erected the fence 500 m from the zero line. The ceasefire agreement in Nov. 2003 enabled us to take up work on realignment of the fence and shifting the high mast lights,'' the BSF official said. Standing atop a bunker at Abdullian border outpost, one can see Pakistani vehicles moving up and down the road to Sialkot. BSF officials say Pakistan's fear is that the fence reaignment will place Indian forces at advantageous points at many spots along the borders including this one at Abdullian. "By getting closer to the zero line, we will be able to dominate the forward area. Pakistani forces have been objecting to the shifting of high mast lights but it does not matter as it is our territory,'' the official said. The BSF and Pakistan Rangers were engaged in a war of words during a flag meeting in Samba sector recently. BSF (182 battalion) commander B S Rawat categorically told Rangers Wing Commander Shahid Fareed that India was installing lights in its own area and Pakistan should not have an objection to that. The Rangers argued that light from the high mast lamps was falling on the advance pickets of the Rangers and wanted the angle of the lights changed.
The BSF didn't budge. | ||
| Posted by:john frum |
| #3 ION PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM + INDIAN EXPRESS > US: LTTE POSES COMMON THREAT TO US, INDIA, PAKISTAN, + AFGHANISTAN; + LTTE POSES THREAT TO INDIA VVIPS [ V-ery V-ery I-mportant P-ersonS = GOVT, HIGH POLS-OFFICIALS], despite recent decimation of Group, aka TAMIL TIGERS, by Sri Lankan Govt-Army, * PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > [PoK-based Group HIZBUL MUJAHIDEEN = HM] HIZBUL:SNEAK INTO INDIA FAST AND DO SOMETHING BIG. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-05-26 22:34 |
| #2 ION PAKISTAN DAILY > [5000-km range LRBMS] AGNI V CAN TARGET CHINA, PAKISTAN BY 2011, says India DRDO. OTOH POSTER > Given PAK's close geographic proximity to INDJUH, DRDO = INDIA had beter make sure that any LRBMS fired at PAK actually lands inside PAK, NOT ANOTHER SOVEREIGN MAJOR, MINOR ASIAN STATE. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-05-26 22:09 |
| #1 "your Kufir light is on our holy ground, the 5,976nd holiest place in Islam" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-05-26 19:59 |