Pakistan government policies behind infiltration: BSF

New Delhi, Nov 29 (IANS) The BSF on Wednesday said the policies of the Pakistan government were behind the continuous infiltration attempts in Jammu and Kashmir and the force has identified the routes of the terrorists whom it was ready to tackle.

BSF Director General told the media that the Pakistani Rangers were ready to maintain peace on the borders but were helpless because of their government's policies.

Sharma's remarks came in the wake of a DG-level dialogue held between the two border guards in the second week of November in Delhi after over a year's gap.

"We have identified the infiltration routes and are ready to tackle future attempts of Pakistan-backed militants. The conferences between the two forces were held in a very peaceful manner. Both sides are eager to make things better, but unfortunately, the situation in Pakistan is such that not much headway is made on the ground. The policies of Pakistan are such that there is no impact of such talks between the two forces," he said.

Sharma added that "the bi-annual dialogue also happened after we caused heavy damage on man and material of Pakistan in retaliation to the killing of one of our troopers due to ceasefire violation by Pakistan Rangers in August. As a result, Pakistan Rangers DG called us and we both decided to stop this. Peace returned after our effective action.

He said they talked to the Pakistan Rangers in a cordial atmosphere. "But, we know that infiltration attempts will be made. We know the possible routes from where infiltration can take place. We know the vulnerable routes from where tunnelling can take place and we have made necessary arrangements to handle any contingency and eventuality," Sharma said.

"They talked to us and made promises also, but those promises are not kept," he said, adding Jammu and Kashmir has seen around 1,020 incidents of ceasefire violations by the Pakistani forces followed by numerous armed infiltration attempts.

Asked about the India-Pakistan border fencing, Sharma said: "We are running a Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS) pilot project in Jammu and Kashmir. We have started the CIBMS project at two stretches of five kilometres each at Jammu border. Things will be installed after integrating it in lab."

"We expect that the pilot project in Jammu will be in place by March 2018. Border fencing projects at other places will also be set up on that basis. Another project is also going on in Dhumri in eastern sector which will be hopefully completed by October 2018."

On the decline in cattle smuggling on the India-Bangladesh border, Sharma said: "I have strengthened our strategy to handle this problem which resulted in the decline in cattle smuggling."

"Bangladeshis call it cattle trade and we call it cattle smuggling. It's a complex issue. We have been making serious attempts to contain it. As a result, it has come down gradually in the last two years. Earlier, the number of smuggling incidents used to be over 20 lakh but now the number is around 5-6 lakh."

The DG said that two BSF personnel had died and over 150 were injured this year in various clashes while dealing with the cattle smugglers.

On the recent incidents of attacks on BSF troopers going on leave, Sharma said: "We have issued an advisory to our people not to share information about their holidays and visits on the social media. We have told them to be more careful while travelling and attending to their social obligations quietly. Besides this, we are taking the help of CRPF and Jammu and Kashmir Police which are on internal security duty."

"If possible, our troopers will stay in a CRPF or police establishment to attend to his social obligation and return."

The DG also said that the paramilitary force was not going to stop its personnel from using smartphones but cautioned them on its misuse.