On Christmas eve, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi surprised the world community by landing in lahore to meet his counterpart Nawaz Shariff, the intelligence agencies in Pakistan had already started scripting another ‘terror plot’ with an aim to sabotage the peace process with India.
First they launched an audacious terror strike on Pathankot air base on January 2 to destroy vital assets parked inside the front line air base and now the detection of cross border tunnel has once again exposed the nefarious designs.
According to BSF officers of Jammu frontier the tunnel was being constructed to push heavily armed fidayeen (members of suicide squad) inside the Indian territory to launch similar strikes on vital Army/security installations in Jammu region. Since it was becoming difficult to breach the barbed wire fence and dodge sophisticated surveillance equipment including body sensors fitted along the fence the Pak rangers may have facilitated construction of tunnel right in front of their ‘Afzal’ BoP to help infiltration of armed terrorists inside the Indian territory.
Meanwhile, newly appointed DG BSF KK Sharma Friday visited RS Pura sector and was briefed by the officers of Jammu frontier on ground zero.Sharma reviewed the prevailing security situation and interacted with senior officers on ground zero.
The senior BSF officers also briefed him about the parameters of the tunnel and the material used for the same.Sharma personally surveyed the ‘terror tunnel’ surrounded by senior BSF officers. IG BSF, Operations Rajeev Krishna and IG Jammu frontier Rakesh Sharma were both present on the occasion.
DG, BSF KK Sharma also interacted with the BSF jawans on the border outpost to boost their morale and directed the field commanders to maintain tight vigil on the border. The senior BSF officers after thoroughly surveying the dimensions of the tunnel and the material used to strengthen it revealed it must have taken more than two months time for those engaged in the task of tunnel construction to prepare the track 10-12 feet under the surface.
On Friday as BSF jawans dug up left over portion of the under construction tunnel they crossed the barbed wire fence and came at least 30-35 metres inside the fence. Security experts claimed, “though the BSF jawans managed to save the day for the BSF authorities and prevented a major infiltration bid through the cross border tunnel but at the same time it is a major security breach and has once again exposed the loop holes in border management strategy”.
The nearest watch tower was less than 50 metres away from the location where tunnel was detected,official sources claimed. During the recent security audit of the entire border fence between Pahadpur area of Kathua to Kanachak sector in Akhnoor the BSF had failed to detect the presence of tunnel in the area.
In July 2012 when a similar tunnel was detected in Samba sector Geological Survey of India had conducted a comprehensive survey of the border area to detect presence of more tunnels in the area. According to highly placed BSF sources, “the BSF jawans deployed on watch towers had reported movement of a truck close to the ‘Afzal’ BoP on the Pakistani side on February 29”.
Sources claimed the truck may have been used to tranship construction material including 3 feet long and 9 inch wide wooden planks and bamboo sticks used inside tunnel walls.
The Pak rangers may have adopted the same modus operandi to camouflage the presence of trained men and machinery used to construct the tunnel.
Physical examination of these wooden planks revealed they were still wet and plastered recently on the walls to ensure better protection against the random fall,BSF officers revealed.
On the other hand intelligence agencies claimed the Pak agencies may have zeroed in on the area as the nearest village from the border fence was located 3-4 kms away and it was easy to hide the movement of infiltrators once they were able to cross the barbed wire fence.