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| India-Pakistan |
| Border observation posts on Indo-Bangla border likely to be doubled |
| 2005-12-14 |
| In what could be read as New Delhi’s growing sense of unease with Dhaka, India has decided to more than double the number of border outposts along the Indo-Bangladesh border and place sensors along the border to curb cross border illegal infiltration. According to senior government officials, India will have at least 1,200 BOPs along the Indo-Bangla border against the current 500. On the India-Pakistan border there are 650-odd BOPs. The distance between each BOP along the Bangladesh border will come down from 8-10 Km to 3.5 km. At a recent meeting attended by representatives of the MEA, PMO and the Home Ministry it was decided to have all the 1,200 BOPs in place by the 2006 end. India also plans to complete the remaining 1,000 km of fencing and flood-lighting the entire the border by the end of next year. While the Indo-Pak border has very sophisticated electric powered Cobra-wire sensors, India is against using the same sensors on the eastern border. It has been argued the high density of population along the border will not allow the use of electric powered sensors there. Sources said that as a pilot project these sensors are being installed along a 294 km patch in North Bengal. The BSF has also been asked to suggest modifications to sensors to suit the requirements of the border. Each BOP will be manned by a platoon-strength squad. Besides, India has also decided to man the numerous rivulets criss-crossing the border by erecting towers on both the banks. Till now, India had argued that manning the riverine portions of the border was not possible. The Union Home Ministry, however, wants to downplay the spurt in security measures on the Indo-Bangla border. It says this demarcation is 4,000 km long whereas the Indo-Pak border is about 2,200 Km long, hence the bigger number of BOPs in the east. It has always been argued that Bangladesh was friendly country which did not warrant policing. So, despite a Group of Ministers recommending deployment of over 70 BSF battalions along the Indo-Bangla border, India was happy to do the job with 50-odd battalions. However, all that is set to change now. As the CRPF takes over from the BSF in Jammu and Kashmir, the freed battalions are promptly being deployed along the India-Bangladesh border. |
| Posted by:john |
| #1 Each BOP will be manned by a platoon-strength squad A platoon of border guards every 3.5 km... not bad. |
| Posted by: john 2005-12-14 18:43 |