Tension prevails on International Border: BSF DG

Border Security Force (BSF) Director General K.K. Sharma on Tuesday said there was "tension" along the International Border (IB) with Pakistan in the wake of the surgical strikes carried out by the Indian Army across the Line of Control.

"There is still tension at the International Border (IB) that runs along Jammu, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat," Sharma said, adding that there had been "no ceasefire violation" or exchange of firing on the IB so far since the September 28 cross LoC strikes.

Sharma was speaking at the concluding session of the six-day talks between a BSF delegation and Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) here.

The BSF DG also said that movement of some Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) had been noticed near the border but there was no need to be worried.

"By using UAVs, they (Pakistani forces) might have wanted to check our preparedness. But, there is no need to get panicked as we are fully capable of giving them a befitting reply," Sharma said.

The BSF chief clarified that the force did not issue any evacuation orders to the farmers living in villages along the India-Pakistan border in Punjab.

"We are doing normal drill there. We are even allowing Indian farmers to go to their farms which are beyond the India-Pakistan fence. We have never said vacate villages, people may have shifted out as a precautionary measure. Now, people who had gone are coming back. There has been no untoward incident at the IB till now," he said.

Talking about a recent incident at the Attari-Wagah retreat ceremony, Sharma said an incident was reported where a "stone" was thrown towards the Indian side but it did not hit anyone and the matter was brought to the notice of their counterparts, Pakistan Rangers.

He said that besides the IB, the BSF had also reviewed the security at every border installation India shares with Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Asked if BSF has a proper watch over the India-Bangladesh border which can be used by terrorists to infiltrate, Sharma said: "There is no such input...However, security mechanisms along the eastern front with Bangladesh have also been increased so that terrorists could not use that country to sneak into India and launch attacks."

--IANS

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