Dip in infiltration attempts as underground tunnels along Pakistan border in Punjab get flooded

Infiltration attempts during the past one month through Pakistan border--ever since heavy rains lashed Punjab and J&K--have been negligible, as several underground tunnels have been flooded and water levels are still high, especially in Punjab, according to security officials.

Owing to recent floods which have ravaged northern India, around 100 km of border areas along Pakistan and PoK have been flooded in Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir. Out of this, 30 km of frontier areas are in Jammu and 70 km of these are in Gurdaspur and Firozpur sectors of Punjab, where fencing have either been washed away or have been bent.

BSF sources said the situation in certain sectors in the higher reaches of Jammu and around RS Pora sector has been somewhat restored, with the mending and erecting of fences. However, situation in Punjab remains grim as flood water is yet to recede, even though there have not been any rains for the past couple of weeks, they informed.

Due to this, several underground tunnels, which dot Pakistan border along Punjab, have been flooded with water, leading to a significant dip in infiltration attempts, security officials said. Though authorities are silent over the loss of any security personnel due to floods in the region.

Also, while infiltration attempts have come down, smuggling incidents have been reported from border areas of Punjab despite heavy rains lashing the state, especially the border areas.

A senior official on condition of anonymity said that due to lots of water in the catchment area of Sutlej river, which flows through Firozpur in Punjab via a long circuitous route, flooding is still along the India-Pakistan borders. Therefore, the repair and restoration work of fencing is yet to be done, he said.

Due to a three-tier patrolling mechanism by the BSF and Punjab Police, where the border guarding force remains stationed in the first two layers while state police personnel man the outermost third tier along the India-Pakistan border, infiltration incidents have been almost negligible, the official said.

With the help of electronic surveillance and use of drones, vigil along the Punjab border has been heightened, therefore incidents of smuggling of narcotics through drones from across Pakistan too have seen a dip since heavy rains started lashing Punjab. However, the conventional smuggling of arms has been reported from border areas along Punjab.

On September 11, the BSF apprehended a couple of arms smugglers and seized a huge cache of arms along Fazilka border in Punjab, which included 27 pistols, 54 magazines and 470 live rounds.

On September 12, the BSF and the CIA Fazilka, in a joint operation, again recovered a big haul of arms and ammunition and apprehended two smugglers, from Fazilka border. Seized ammunition included 16 pistols, 38 magazines, 1,847 live rounds and one motorcycle.

On September 21, the BSF and Punjab Police jointly apprehend four smugglers with a huge Heroin consignment of around 10 kg in Gurdaspur, close to Pakistan border.

All these incidents have taken place in the past couple of week, even as India-Pakistan border regions are still flooded with water.