New Delhi

BSF Director General D K Pathak, flanked by a battery of his top commanders, today visited some sensitive border locations along the Punjab frontier in the wake of the deadly terrorist attack on the Pathankot IAF base.

Senior officials said the Border Security Force chief and other top officers of the paramilitary visited Bamiyal, a village located in Pathankot, and a nearby border post to understand the possible routes that could have been exploited by the six terrorists who laid a daunting seige at the forward air base begining January 2.

The DG, they said, was briefed about the security paraphernalia deployed by the force to plug gaps along the India-Pakistan International Border and the gadgets put in place by it to check infiltrators.

Pathak, it is understood, was told by the field commanders that there was no possibility of any infiltration from the area and its adjoining border locations as the force has pressed in additional manpower and mounted an effective vigil to secure the area, marred by riverine and dense forest areas.

Pathak also visited a 134-metre long ‘nullah’ and few other riverine that runs along the border and is unfenced.

The DG is expected to submit a report with regard to this tour to the Union Home Ministry tomorrow.

The border guarding force had yesterday submitted a report to the Centre after analysing the possible route taken by the attackers of the Pathankot IAF base, stating it had found no breach in the fence but added there were some gapping holes along the IB and malfunctioning of some of the electronic surveillance equipments it uses.

Senior BSF officials have been camping in Bamiyal and adjoining areas to take stock of the unfenced and riverine areas.

The Home Ministry had earlier asked the BSF to submit a report on the breach by terrorists who sneaked into India and carried out terror strike at the Indian Air Force base.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had also said in Pathankot today that the BSF has already been asked to give details of areas from where terrorists could have entered. PTI NES SKL

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

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.

Difficult to seal off vulnerable points along IB: Amarinder
Amritsar

Punjab Congress Chief Amarinder Singh today defended the state police for “any lapses” in the Pathankot terror attack, saying it was difficult to completely seal off vulnerable points along the international border.

“It is not proper to put blame on the Punjab Police for any lapse as they had already sounded the alert in relevant quarters after learning about the infiltration by the militants,” he said.

The Congress leader was reacting to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s statements today that “some gaps” had led to the terror attack on the Air Force base in Pathankot on Saturday in which all the six infiltrators, who used some “Pakistan- made” equipment, were killed.

Amarinder maintained that there were certain vulnerable points along the international border which would be difficult to seal completely.

He, however, said the talks between India and Pakistan should continue while the neighbouring country must act against the rogue elements like the Jaish Mohammad and United Jihad Council which have owned up the responsibility for the attack on Pathankot airbase.

On being asked whether Prime Minister Modi was right in going to Lahore recently, which was immediately followed by the attack on Pathankot airbase, the former Chief Minister said there was “no alternative to peace and the talks must continue”.

Moreover, peace between India and Pakistan is not only in the interest of both the countries, but much more in the interest of Punjab which will stand benefited more than any other state, he said.

The Lok Sabha MP said since the United Jihad Council (UJC) had owned up the responsibility for the attacks, it became the responsibility of Pakistan to act against them.

“Both UJC and Jaish Mohammad are based out of Pakistan and the authorities there know everything about these organisations,” he said.

The PCC president and a former army man also opined that instead of putting the National Security Guard (NSG) in charge of the operations in Pathankot, the operation should have been handled by the Army which had better expertise in counter-insurgency operations.

“The combing and clearing operation should have been handed over to the Army which has a lot of expertise in counter-insurgency operations as in Kashmir. Here also, it was a jungle area where counter insurgency experts from the Army could have been put on job,” he said.

He added that senior party leaders, including general secretary in charge Shakeel Ahmad, Campaign Committee chairperson Ambika Soni, CLP leader Charanjit Singh Channi, AICC secretary Harish Chaudhary and former PCC president Partap Singh Bajwa will be attending the bhog ceremony of those martyred in the Gurdaspur terror attack last year. PTI