JOIN USInfiltration bids by Pakistani intruders from across the border into Punjab is at an all time high.
A record number of infiltration bids have been reported this year. There's also a drastic increase in the number of Pakistani intruders killed in action by the BSF, as many as 11 this year until Thursday, on the Pakistan-Punjab border.
The figures are the highest since 2013. In fact, the number of Pakistani intruders killed has nearly doubled since last year when six intruders were killed in counter-fire. What is worrying is that unlike the earlier pattern when infiltration attempts took place during winters under the garb of dense fog and biting cold wave conditions, an increased number of intrusion bids are being witnessed this time around in peak summer.
Also, out of the 11 Pakistani intruders gunned down by the BSF this year, at least five were armed with Pakistan-labelled ammunition. The remaining intruders are believed to have tried to infiltrate the border zone for drug smuggling.
The number of intruders nabbed by the BSF while trying to enter Punjab too has witnessed a surge. In the first seven months of this year, at least 20 Pakistani intruders have been arrested. On an yearly average, about 21 suspects are apprehended by the BSF.
The BSF guards the 543-km Punjab-Pakistan border, which is turning into the new theatre of terror from across Pakistan. Since July last year, two major terror strikes from militants in Pakistan — one in Dinanagar in Gurdaspur and the second at the Pathankot frontier Air Force base — brought the focus on this vulnerable border zone which until July last year was ill-famed for drug smuggling.
After the Pathankot strike, 18 additional companies of the BSF have been deployed here, which led to plugging gaping holes in the security apparatus leading to more arrests and killing of Pakistani intruders.