BSF commanders asked to spend 25 nights a month at posts along border

The BSF has directed its battalion commanders to spend at least 25 nights in a month at a forward post along the India-Pakistan International Border (IB) in Jammu as part of its renewed efforts to fortify the 'anti-infiltration' grid in this region, official sources said Tuesday.

The commandants and their second-in-command officers have been asked to strictly follow the directive and monitor their units to check "each and every" movement along this front, which is highly sensitive and vulnerable from the point of infiltration of terrorists from the Pakistani soil and unprovoked firing incidents.

A directive, accessed by PTI, said the senior commanders of the force "have taken a serious view on inadequate night halts" undertaken by the field commanders in the recent past and hence they have been asked to now spend "at least" 25 night stops at border posts.

BSF officers in the Punjab frontier have also been asked to undertake similar measures.

This order for night halt of battalion commanders in forward areas are for sometime. The strategy can be modified as per the prevailing situation, a senior official said.

The battalion in-charges have also been asked to set up a tactical base or operational centre at one of the forward locations along the Jammu frontier to ensure that there is no let up in security and an effective vigil is maintained.

The recent order is being seen in the light of a massive exercise undertaken by the Border Security Force to fortify the 'anti-infiltration grid' along the Pakistan border in Punjab and Jammu by mobilising its entire senior field brass, troops and machinery.

The operation, code named 'Sudarshan', was launched between July 1-15 and will cover the entire over 1,000-kms length of the IB in the two states.

While Jammu shares about 485-kms border with Pakistan, about 553-kms of the front runs along Punjab. Further, it runs down towards Rajasthan and Gujarat on India's western flank.

The BSF is the primary force guarding this frontier as the 'first line of defence'.

The government recently told Parliament that the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed an improvement and the net infiltration from across the border has reduced by 43 per cent after a surgical strike was carried out on terror camps in Pakistan.