BJP MP claims 'security lapses' at Wagah-Attari check post

BJP's Rajya Sabha member Shwait Malik on Friday raised the issue of what he said were "security lapses" at Wagah-Attari Joint Check Post (JCP) on the India-Pakistan border, and claimed illegal weapons were brought into India in the past through this land border crossing that lacks scanners.

Malik, who hails from Amritsar in Punjab, raised the issue during zero hour in the Rajya Sabha and said: "There is a big security lapse along the India-Pakistan border."

The Bharatiya Janata Party member said only 13 of the 231 closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed at the check post were working while all 18 boom barriers installed to stop unauthorised vehicles from entering certain areas are not working.

The MP said while Pakistan had installed scanners on its side, the Indian side had deployed only dogs to scrutinise vehicles crossing over from Pakistan side.

"It is pricking us that there are scanners on the Pakistan side and only dogs on our side. You cannot trust an animal... weapons have come through the post many times," Malik said.

He said the Home Ministry had sanctioned scanners for the international joint check post after he requested for them, and urged the government to speed up the process.

"Crores of rupees have been spent on (border) fencing but the security (at Attari) has been left to the canines. Weapons have come through the international check post because of checking conducted by dogs," Malik said.

--IANS

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