The recent flood fury across the vast areas of the northern parts of the country including Jammu Kashmir has led to a serious situation as far as national security is concerned. The loss of human lives and property was no doubt colossal in the frequent spells of heavy rainfall in J&K, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, which has created havoc in the plains with rivers and other water bodies flowing several notches up their capacity and causing inundation in their catchment areas including the border belt both in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab, damaging the border fence along the stretch covering hundreds of kilometers.
With this damage to sensitive stretches adjoining Pakistan, the challenge before India’s security apparatus especially the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Indian Army has escalated significantly. With floods posing new challenges and surveillance edifice dying down with fencing being washed away the threat of cross-border infiltration has increased manifold times, raising alarm bells in the concerned circles.
The situation demands immediate action, not only for disaster relief but also for bolstering the border security once again. All said and done, it is the responsibility of Indian security forces especially the BSF and the army to ensure the sanctity and safety of India’s borders in these vulnerable times without wasting even a jiffy as the threat of infiltration and other conspiracies from the neighbouring country has been looming large.
Reportedly, over 110 km of the India-Pakistan international border (IB) fence has been damaged and about 90 BSF posts inundated due to floods in the forward areas of Jammu and Punjab. Of the 2,289 km IB, which also runs along the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat on the country’s western side, the border force guards about 192 km in Jammu and 553 km in Punjab. As per reports, about 80 km of the IB fence in Punjab and around 30 km of it in Jammu has been damaged by the floods that have wreaked havoc.
The fence at these places has submerged, uprooted or tilted which has jeopardized the security especially looking at the threat of infiltration, which is the part and parcel of Pakistan’s proxy war, which it has been waging against India for the last many decades. It is pertinent to mention that the floods have also damaged or inundated about 20 Border Security Force (BSF) posts in Jammu and 65-67 in Punjab. Several forward defence points (FDPs) or high-ground located observation posts of the force have also been impacted. It is necessary to restore all these facilities and resume the action to guard the borders with added vigour and responsibility because India cannot afford lowered security along borders as Pakistan is always looking for an opportunity to dent Indian interests through infiltration and other nefarious designs.
