Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 24: In a bid to completely curb the infiltration attempts along the borders with Pakistan, the Government was mulling the possibility of installing Israel-type fencing along the borders to attain results of zero fencing and prevent the militants from reaching the National Highways and other areas to carry out January 2 like Pathankot attacks.
Official sources told the Excelsior that top officials of Army and BSF, which man the Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB) with Pakistan, have batted for Israel-type fencing on the borders to completely plug the borders and prevent even minimal chances of infiltration.
The Israel pattern of fencing on the borders is considered the best in the world. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had recently visited Israel and, according to sources, her visit was likely to be followed by a Panel of top officers of security agencies to study the pattern of fencing though it has been found most suited for the borders in the Indian conditions, where temperatures vary from minus to 46 degree Celsius.
“Though India shared 3300 kilometers International Border and 740 kilometers Line of Control with Pakistan, the Israel-type fencing is being proposed only for Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab as these were the only two States, where the terrorist activities were confined and militants were making desperate attempts to infiltrate to carry out attacks on defence establishments,’’ sources said.
Sources said the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval have discussed the proposal for installation of highly sophisticated Israel-type fencing along the borders in two sensitive States of Jammu and Kashmir, which have witnessed series of attacks on the defence installations by the militants after their infiltration from Pakistan.
The Indian side, according to sources, showed interest in Israel type fencing after similar models were adopted by Hungary and Bulgaria to prevent influx of refugees into their countries and the experiments were highly successful. Apart from India, the Unites States had also sent their delegations to Israel to study their pattern of border fencing, rated as one of the best in the world.
While Home Minister Rajnath Singh had seen the fencing in 2014 during his visit to Israel, Sushma Swaraj was briefed on it by the Israel military experts during her recent visit to the country.
The highly sophisticated border security system of Israel has high quality long-range day cameras along with night observation systems employing third generation thermal imagers, long-range detection radars, electronic touch and motion sensors on the fence as well as underground sensors to detect any tunneling attempts.
Israel has fenced its borders along West Bank, Gaza and Egypt with similar kind of fencing, which was based on latticed steel, topped and edged with razor wire, extending at least two meters below ground and in some sections reaching seven meters above the ground while ditches and observation posts were covered with cameras and antennae will line the route.
It has electronic pulse running through the fencing, which sets off an immediate alarm as soon as a person comes in contact and allow the border guarding forces to locate accurate sites from where the militants were plotting infiltration attempts.
The small rivulets, which flow through the International Border as well as LoC and water level rises during Monsoon, are covered with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), sources said.
The Centre had recently mooted proposal to upgrade existing fencing along the LoC and International Border exclusively in Jammu and Kashmir. However, with terrorists taking Bamiyal sector in Punjab to infiltrate and carry out attacks at Dina Nagar and Pathankot, the Centre has now included both Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab as two States where fencing was required to be upgraded and Israel pattern was being studied for both the States though India shared border with Pakistan in many other States also like Rajasthan, Gujarat etc.
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