Rejecting the Punjab government resolution moved in the Punjab Assembly on Thursday against the proposed move of the centre to extend the operational jurisdiction of the Border Security Force (BSF) from 15 kilometers (km) to 50 km, former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh today asked the state government not to politicise the issue of national security for petty partisans ends and motives.

“The operational jurisdiction of the BSF concerns national security and not the law and order in the state, which the current powers that be in Punjab are apparently not able to understand”, he remarked in a statement today.

Amarinder said, it was sad that the government was trying to politicize an issue, which concerns national security and concerns all border states including Punjab. He pointed out, it is not only Punjab, but the states like Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Gujarat, West Bengal, and others where the BSF jurisdiction is 50 kms inside the international border.

Moreover, he added, with Pakistan using sophisticated technology and highly improvised drones with a range of as much as 30 km, it is important that the BSF gets more operational jurisdiction. “Extending the operational jurisdiction of the BSF neither infringes upon the federal authority of the state, nor questions the competence of the state police in maintaining law and order, as some vested political interests are trying to make out”, Amarinder remarked.

The former CM said there is a huge difference between law and order and national security. “Unfortunately people playing up the issue are unable to make out the difference between the law and order and the national security”, he observed, while pointing out, “BSF like Punjab Police is our own force and not any external or foreign force coming to occupy our land”.

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national general secretary Tarun Chugh today said that it was a black day for Punjab when the Punjab Assembly passed a resolution against the BSF.

Chugh flayed the Congress government for politicising the issue of national security by passing a resolution against the BSF, a force that has been bravely guarding the national borders for the last many decades.

“The Congress seems to be pleasing it’s mentors in the Pakistan ISI bypassing such a deplorable and anti-national resolution in the state Assembly “, Chugh said.

Incidents of tiffin bombs in Punjab indicate how serious is the threat to security from Pakistan. Yet the Congress government wants to obstruct the working of the BSF on the national borders, he said.