The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Saturday, October 28, 2000,
Chandigarh, India

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Hi-tech fencing along J&K border
BSF using Israeli knowhow to check infiltration
From T.R. Ramachandran
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct 27 — The Atal Behari Vajpayee government has begun hi-tech electronic fencing along the 705 km Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir to check infiltration of Pakistan-aided terrorists.

The job of putting in place electronic fencing which facilitates keeping close tabs on the goings on along the LoC has been entrusted to the Border Security Force at an estimated cost of Rs 1000 crore.

In keeping with the National Democratic Alliance government’s multi-strand policy in dealing with protracted cross border terrorism in the border state, Union Home Minister L.K. Advani has already held intensive discussions in this regard with J and K Governor Girish Chandra Saxena and Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah.

Mr Advani had acquainted himself with the electronic surveillance gadgetry installed by Israel on its border during his visit to the Jewish state recently. Tel Aviv has found electronic fencing on its volatile borders extremely advantageous in dealing with the problem of radical Islamic fundamentalism trying to destabilise the situation in Israel.

Israel has readily shared its knowhow and experiences on the finer aspects of electronic fencing and its experts had visited India last month. Preferring to keep a low profile, the Israeli team met with their Indian counterparts besides going round some border areas. The Israelis are, however, not directly involved in operation electronic fencing along the LoC in J and K.

The border terrain in India and Israel are vastly different which necessitates making some innovations to suit New Delhi’s requirements. Electronic fencing has acquired added urgency because of the stepped up terrorist violence in J and K, a fallout of Pakistan’s misadventure in the Kargil region last year.

Hi-tech border fencing is understood to be a direct fallout of the recommendations made by the Task Force constituted by the NDA government to critically analyse border management. The Task Force on Border Management was headed by former Union Home Secretary Madhav Godbole which submitted a voluminous report to the government earlier this month.

Considering the undulating terrain, mountains and severe winter along the LoC, the Godbole Task Force on Border Management had underlined the need for electronic fencing as physical fencing is unfeasible. Besides as the higher reaches are snowbound in the winter, it is well nigh impossible to keep a constant round-the-clock vigil along the LoC all the 365 days of the year.

The Union Home Ministry is also actively considering bringing the premier intelligence agencies — Military Inelligence, Inteligence Bureau and the Research and Analysis Wing — under one roof to facilitate proper coordination.

Mr Advani told The Tribune in an interview last week that the Group of Ministers headed by him had set up four specialised task forces to study in depth for the first time since Independence Border Management, Defence Management, Intelligence Gathering and Internal Security.

He said all the four task forces had submitted their exhaustive reports to the Union Government. The GOM will meet in the next three weeks. After carefully studying the reports the government will “take appropriate decisions.” At the same time Mr Advani stressed that the menace of cross border terrorism was not an insurmountable problem.

Infiltration bid foiled, 6 shot

SRINAGAR, Oct 27 (PTI) — Fourteen militants, including six infiltrators of three different pro-Pakistan militant outfits, were among 16 persons killed in different incidents in Jammu and Kashmir, where security forces scuttled an attempt by Pakistan to push militants into the valley last night, a defence spokesman said today.

The intrusion attempt was thwarted in Tangdhar sector of the frontier district of Kupwara in North Kashmir when troops noticed a group of militants trying to sneak into the valley from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), he said.

When challenged, the infiltrators opened fire and tried to flee. The troops fired at them, killing six.

Five of them were identified as Azad Ahmad Bhat and Aziz Ahmad Wani (Hizbul Mujahideen), Nayeem-ul-Haq and Shabir Ahmad (Al-Fateh) and Naseeb Bakhtiyar, a resident of PoK, associated with Al-Badr outfit, the spokesman said, adding that the identity of the militants showed that it was a joint group of different militant outfits trying to sneak into the valley.

A big cache of arms and ammunition, including an AK assault rifle, two anti-tank mines, 16 anti-personnel mines, 60 rifle grenades, 14 hand grenades and 17 detonators, were recovered near the encounter site.

In another encounter, Rashtriya Rifles troops killed three militants at Panzgam in the frontier district of Kupwara.

One of the slain militants was identified as Mohammad Maqbool War (Hizbul Mujahideen), he said, adding a rifle, a pistol and some ammunition were recovered from them.

Troops also shot dead a militant of Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit in the Lolab area of Kupwara district yesterday.

Meanwhile, four militants and a jawan were killed, while another was seriously injured in two separate militancy-related incidents in Rajouri district of Jammu division since yesterday, official sources said in Jammu.

In an encounter in Thil village, three Hizbul Mujahideen militants were killed.

Militants shot dead a policeman and targeted a CRPF camp at Srinagar yesterday, official sources said in Srinagar.

They said Constable Ghulam Mohammad of the Special Operations Group was killed at Nuner in the Ganderbal area.

TNS adds: Six persons, including one Army jawan and a civilian, were killed in three separate militancy-related incidents in Jammu on Friday.

Official reports said that four militants were killed in an encounter with the troops near Budhal in Rajouri district. The reports said that on a tip-off, troops of the Dogra Battalion cordoned off a militant hideout, which had been established in a cave in the upper forest belt of Budhal. As the troops neared the hideout, they came under heavy fire. Havildar Bishen Das and Sepoy Subash Chander scaled the mountain area from the rear and hurled a grenade into the cave.

Three militants were forced to come out of the cave and started firing at the soldiers. Bishen Das and Subash Chander made a determined bid to stop militants from escaping. There was close combat between the militants and the two soldiers. All three rebels were killed on the spot. Both Bishen Das and Subash Chander were critically wounded. However, Bishen Das succumbed to his wounds before he could be evacuated to hospital.

In another incident, a member of the village Defence Committee killed one militant in village Chablas near Budhal. Large quantities of arms and ammunition were recovered from both the sites.

Pakistani troops resorted to heavy shelling in Kanachak area of Akhnoor sector in which one civilian was killed. People of the area, who have been living under scare because of constant shelling from across the border, took to the streets, protesting against lack of protection to civilians against repeated Pakistani firing and shelling.

The protesters blocked the main road. Senior police and civil officers intervened and assured the agitators that necessary steps would be taken to ensure their protection.