Fear grips locals after detection of cross-border tunnel in JK

"The detection of the tunnel into our Chachwal border belt has created fear among our people. Our people have spent sleepless nights after its detection...," villager Parveen Singh told this PTI correspondent here.

With a population of over 2,000 villagers, Chachwal hamlet is located barely one kilometre from International Border and 65 km from Jammu city.

"We have never seen such a tunnel even during the peak of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir or even at the height of the border conflict," he said.

Like Parveen, Lumderdar Som Singh said "our fears have doubled after the detection of the tunnel in our paddy fields. Authorities are yet to find out details of the tunnel."

Another villager, Harnaam Singh, said the locals want the authorities to ascertain that there were no more other tunnels in their area.

He remarked villagers have seen cross-border shelling and firing, infiltration of militants from Pakistan and subsequent encounters in past but this new design appears to be more dangerous.

The tunnels have been dug open at two-three places which poses more threat to them, Harnaam said.

Incidentally, it was a Class XII student, identified as Sukhdev, who first noticed that his farm land had caved in some places and subsequently informed BSF.

Authorities had then on July 28 dug out the tunnel at a depth of 25 ft below the ground level along the Indo-Pak border in Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir.

People living close to the international border in Jammu sector had similar story of fear gripping them.

The villagers of Gallar, Kukrenwala, Garkhal, Pargwal, Chinore farm, Abdullian, Suchetgarh, Jabowal, Korotana also fear the presence of such tunnels in their areas. They demanded that BSF personnel carry out survey of their areas.