Great Rann of Kutch, DeshGujarat

This is surely dangerous for national security. Pakistan’s telephone companies are freely throwing their signals in Gujarat’s Kutch. This means if a person possibly a spy working for Pakistan staying in Kutch once obtain sim card of Pakistani mobile operator, he can talk to Pakistani counterpart bypassing India’s intelligence agencies.

Now read how this can work. Imagine a man spying for Pakistan from Kutch wants to pass some secret message or information to Pakistan. If he use Indian service provider’s phone service to call Pakistan, there is a danger of India’s intelligence agencies check.

But is he use Pakistani telephone service, he can freely talk with Pakistani counterpart without worrying about any possibility of Indian intelligence agency’s intervention. All a spy needs is Pakistani Telephone Company’s sim card. In Kutch’s case it is Telenor.

Any Pakistani visiting India with Telenor’s sim card can pass on such a sim card to desired spy in Kutch through their network. Once Kutch based spy obtain Pakistani sim card he can use it freely to call Pakistan based secret agencies. Pakistan based secret agencies can then take care of regular renewal of that sim card.

It should be noted that according to the rules that are existing, this is clear violation by Pakistani Telephone Company because at both sides of international border some distance is banned for mobile telephone operation’s signals.

And not only Cell phone signals, Pakistan also air it’s Islamic preaching FM radio signals to Kutch too. One can be shocked listening to the hardcore Islamic preaching over Pakistani FM radio in parts of Kutch. Kashmir related programs are also aired on such FM radio service.

Pakistani TV can be easily watched in Kutchi villages. Sometime signals of Pakistani TV are even more powerful than Indian TV. This happens in case of normal TV antenna. However cable TV subscribers are free from Pakistani TV’s telecast.

DeshGujarat raised these issues with Kutch’s Member of Parliament Shri Pushpadan Gadhvi over a breakfast in Rann Utsav 2008. Shri Gadhvi expressed his helplessness and replied that central government does not consider Kutch as a special border area case. Central government considers Kutch as any other district with small population. And therefore central government never cares about powerful TV signals that India should have in this area, or powerful radio signals either.

Late former information minister shri Pramod Mahajan had personally visited Kutch to inaugurate a new tower that could counter Pakistani signals in Kutch. Haren Pandya, a home minister in Gujarat government at that time had accompanied shri Mahajan. He had worked hard to lobby for Gujarat in this cause earlier. But today the tower that Pramod Mahajan started is not working in its full capacity and central government is doing nothing in this regard. Result is Pakistani tv, radio signals in Kutch’s villages.