New Delhi

BSF today submitted a report to the Centre about the possible route taken by the attackers of the Pathankot IAF base, claiming there was no breach in the fence but there were some gapping holes along the international border and malfunctioning of electronic surveillance equipment.

Senior BSF officials also visited Bamiyal, a village located in Pathankot, and took stock of the unfenced and riverine areas along the border with Pakistan.

The Home Ministry has directed the BSF, which guards the international border with Pakistan, to submit a report on the breach by terrorists who sneaked into India and carried out terror strike in Pathankot.

Officials said the BSF claimed in its report that there were no signs or evidence to suggest that the terrorists had breached the fence erected at maximum places along the border in Punjab or neighbouring Jammu.

However, there are numerous pockets and ‘nullahs’ which are unfenced and growth of elephant grass can provide an easy cover to the infiltrating group, the sources said.

While some of the Hand Held Thermal Imagers (HHTI) and Battle Field Surveillance Radars, placed at the places where fencing is not erected, did not pick up any signal, some of these equipment had some “technical glitch” resulting in non-registering of any activity, the sources said.

The BSF informed that after the Gurdaspur terror strike on July 27 last year, a battalion (1,000 personnel) had been deployed additionally along the Pathankot sector, they said.

Sources said as per initial reports, the terrorists might have entered India through one of the rivulets, which are unfenced, in Punjab.

Terrorists are believed to have taken route often used by drug smugglers to infiltrate into the border state of Punjab and unleash the deadly attack on the IAF base in Pathankot.

As the initial inputs suggest, the terrorists, who carried out the pre-dawn attack, had infiltrated through tributaries of river Beas in Pathankot in Bamiyal village, located close to the International Border.

They are believed to have infiltrated into India during the intervening night of December 30-31. The area from where the terrorists crossed over has a thick foliage of elephant grass which provides an automatic cover for them, they said.

A tributary of river Beas enters into Pakistan from this village and this route is popular with drug smugglers to enter India.

Punjab to demand sensitive status for border shared with Pakistan
Bathinda

Punjab government will demand from the Centre, sensitive status for border of the state shared with Pakistan, and deployment of more BSF battalions for guarding international borders, its Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today said.

Seeking “thick security cover” on Indo-Pak border on the lines of Jammu and Kashmir, Sukhbir said in order to strengthen security along the international borders of Punjab lying in Pathankot, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran, Fazilka and Ferozepur districts, the state will demand from the Centre, deployment of more battalions of BSF.

He also said Punjab will demand sensitive status for the border of the state shared with Pakistan.

The deputy chief minister said the Punjab government was also chalking out a strategy to prepare a second-in-line defence security cover on Pakistan borders.

To a query, he said that Punjab police played “bravado” role in countering the terrorist attack on the Pathankot Air Force Base. And for strengthening its borders, the Punjab government will deputy DIG level officer.

On this occasion, Union Minister for Food Processing Industry Harsimrat Kaur Badal said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi had convened a high-level review meeting on the Pathankot episode and all steps were being taken to safeguard the country.

She said the Union government will step up vigil on the international borders and any terrorists will be given a befitting reply.

Sukhbir also flagged off a train from Raman Mandi to Sri Nanded Sahib and four buses to Salasar Dham in Rajasthan under the Mukh Mantri Tirath Darshan Yatra Yojana.

He said that as per the demand of pilgrims the number of trains, buses and their trips will be increased to ensure that maximum people are able to visit their respective places of worship.

He said that there was immense enthusiasm in the people of Punjab regarding Yojana and as per the need, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal will be consulted on increasing the number of trains, buses and their trips.

He said that trains will also be run for Ajmer Sharif and Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine.

Terrorists crossed border with help of drugs rackets?

New Delhi

The terrorists who raided Pathankot air base may have entered India assisted by a drugs racket along both sides of the Indo-Pakistan border and the heavy arms and ammunition used by them could have been dispatched from the neighbouring country before they crossed the border.

Security agencies suspect that the terrorists crossed the International Border in Punjab through a “controlled operation” by a gang involved in the smuggling of narcotics, fake Indian currency notes and arms.

The possibility of the involvement of some security personnel with the smuggling gang cannot be ruled out as there have been inputs in the past about some elements being linked to the establishment of the drugs racket, the sources said.

A detailed probe and questioning of some people involved in the racket could unearth the conspiracy, they added.

Speculation is rife that the heavy arms and ammunition used by the terrorists in the attack were sent over from Pakistan much before the terrorists crossed the International Border.

There is a high probability that the arms were sent through the drugs racket and dumped at a designated spot from where the terrorists collected these after crossing the border through a route used by the smugglers, sources said.

“Smuggling network in Punjab has to be probed,” they said.