BSF Undertakes Massive Exercise To Plug The International Border
A mega exercise named ‘Sudarshan’ has been launched by the BSF along the Pakistan border in Punjab and Jammu. The name has been taken from the legendary and mythological cutting wheel or the ‘sudarshan chakra’ on Lord Krishna’s finger that decimates the enemy with sharp precision and returns to its original place in quick time.
This mega exercise is to fortify the ‘anti-infiltration grid’. The BSF, has mobilised its entire senior field staff, thousands of troops and machinery deployed in these forward areas.
The operation, code named ‘Sudarshan’, was launched on July 1 and will cover the entire over 1,000-kms length of the India-Pakistan International Border. While Jammu shares about 485-kms of the sensitive IB with Pakistan, about 553-kms of the front is in Punjab. Further, it runs down towards Rajasthan and Gujarat on India’s western flank.
A huge assortment of heavy machinery, communication interceptors and mobile bulletproof bunkers have been mobilised, backed by thousands of BSF personnel as part of the exercise.
Appointments from the Frontier IG down to the appointment of Commandants of BSF battalion, their second-in-commands and company commanders of the about 40 battalions of the BSF are camping in the forward areas of the two states to finish the operation within a fortnight.
Multiple patrols are being undertaken to strengthen Indian defence positions and locations for launching offensive action at these borders from the point of view of sealing the front against infiltration of terrorists, drug mules and also to ensure a befitting reply to unprovoked firing from the Pakistani side.
The senior appointments of the force have been asked to prepare their watch towers and sentry posts, replenish arms and ammunition dumps, strengthen artillery positions, check and plug border fence breaches, detect underground and cross-border tunnels and make all operational and logistical arrangements to strengthen the vigil along the sensitive and infiltration-prone border.
The appointments have been asked to ensure that the Jawans follow the standard operating procedures and that there is an all-time stock of bulletproof vests, ‘patka’ (head gear) and combat gear to ensure their safety.
They have been asked to ensure that the ‘sarkanda’ or the elephant grass on the border is cut for better visibility against any movement on the border and instances of drugs smuggling through couriers that is rampant across the Punjab border and some instances of which are also reported on the Jammu side.
As part of the operation, big earthen mounds on the International Border will be flattened, new bunkers and ‘ditch-cum-bandh’ (trenches) are being dug and BSF posts are being better Protected against sniper firing incidents that have claimed lives of many troops in the past.
A fleet of heavy and small all-terrain vehicles has been mobilised in these areas as the field officers are moving in those localities. Some fresh 4×4 vehicles have been dispatched to be placed on the borders for quick movement of armed troops, sources said.
The operation will end by the time monsoon unleashes heavy rains and cuts easy access to forward locations. While sources dismissed suggestions that the exercise was a reaction to a recent similar movement being noticed on the Pakistani side, they said this was being done to only “fortify Indian defences against infiltration, unprovoked firing and Pakistan Border Action Team (BAT) attacks.”
Mr Rajni Kant Mishra DG BSF and senior officials of the border guarding force are expected to review the “results achieved” on the ground after the exercise ends. The Union Home Ministry will go through the final report of the operation after which sanctions will be made to procure gadgets, equipment and infrastructure that is required to plug gaps and strengthen border management at these two fronts.
