Ferozepore, May 18
The mysterious disappearance of mad persons from the border pocket is causing concern to Border Security Force (BSF) and Punjab police personnel.

The roaming of mad persons in the border areas and areas near to the vital installations of defence of this region have been causing concern to the security forces for the past many years. Though the BSF and Punjab police have failed to find out whether these mad persons were working for Pakistan's ISI agency or not, the areas have witnessed a significant influx of mad persons whenever there is tension on India and Pakistan.

During the Kargil war and Operation Parakarm, this district and those areas where the defence vital installations are situated witnessed a large number of mad persons roaming around. Though the BSF and police authorities rounded up hundreds of such persons, they failed to elicit any information from them in connection with their movements in the sensitive areas and it kept the security agencies always on tenterhooks. However, the security agencies concerned are now again at a loss over the mysterious disappearance of mad persons from the border areas since the tension on Indo-Pak border has de-escalated.

“We have been keeping a constant watch on the activities of seven mad persons, who have been moving here and there in the Mamdot sector for the past many months. But now, they have disappeared at once. What has been causing concern to us is the lack of information regarding from where they had come and where they have gone”, pointed out a senior BSF official while talking on TNS.

He added that though the BSF suspected that these mad persons had been roaming in border areas with some motive and to keep a watch on the movement of the Army in the area, it could not do any thing as only the Punjab police could deal with such persons.

Information gathered by TNS revealed that number of mad persons had disappeared from various pockets of border areas and from areas where vital defence installations are situated. In the past, though the Punjab police had questioned a number of such mad persons at the Joint Interrogation Centre (JIC), Amritsar, it failed to extract any information as most of the mad persons spoke incoherrently. They were later discharged for being “mad”. The border areas also witnessed an influx of a large number of mad persons during the Indo-Pak wars.

A senior Army official, talking to TNS on the condition o anonymity, while confirming the fact that mad persons were caught from the areas near the Bathinda cantonment and Killi Bhisiana Air Force station, pointed out that the Punjab police personnel were not trained to extract information from mad persons by influencing them psychologically. He added that to check this menace, a special squad of well-trained police personnel should be deployed in the areas that were sensitive from the defence point of view.