Days after a string of attacks by Pakistani terrorists in the border district of Kathua and the ongoing Amarnath pilgrimage in Kashmir, top brass of J&K and Punjab Police, BSF, and intelligence agencies held an interstate security review meeting on Thursday at the police lines in Kathua, which is in the neighbourhood of Punjab.
After the meeting, Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav wrote on X: “Today a highly useful Inter-State Coordination Conference between BSF, J&K Police, Central Agencies and the Punjab Police was held in Kathua, J&K, to focus on enhancing border security and synergy between the two State Police Forces and the Border Guarding Force”.
“The Conference was attended by Spl DG BSF Western Command, DGP J&K, DGP Punjab and senior officers from the Punjab Police, J&K Police, BSF, and Central Agencies for exchange of best practices and exploring innovative solutions to bolster border management and public safety,” he said.
The Punjab DGP added: “United in our commitment to seamless cooperation, we are dedicated to maintaining internal security in the border states of Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab.”
The meeting was attended by Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police RR Swain, his Punjab counterpart Gaurav Yadav, and Special Director General of BSF, Western Command, YB Khurania, among others, to review the security grid along the International Border and plug any loopholes, officials said.
Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order), J&K, Vijay Kumar, ADG (Law and Order), Punjab, Arpit Shukla, ADGP (Jammu Zone) Anand Jain and Inspector General-rank BSF officers of Punjab and Jammu were also present in the meeting, they said.
Sources said that it was decided to increase vigil along the borders with Pakistan to foil infiltration of terrorists. The intelligence apparatus of the two states has also been geared up.
The BSF and the border police forces of J&K and Punjab have been alerted and directed to remain vigilant against infiltration attempts and drone flights from Pakistan. There were reports that terrorists were also infiltrating through the riverine Gurdaspur border in Punjab, besides the traditional routes in the Kathua, Samba, and Jammu districts.
Heavily armed groups of terrorists, who were also carrying the sophisticated US-made M-4 rifles, are believed to have infiltrated through the International Border with Pakistan that criss-crosses through Jammu and Punjab.
Two terrorists were recently spotted in the Pathankot area after which an alert was sounded in Punjab. An Army patrol was earlier this week ambushed by terrorists in the Badnota village of Billawar subdivision. Five soldiers, including a JCO, were killed and as many injured in the attack.
Two heavily armed Pakistani terrorists were last month gunned down on the infiltration route in Kathua. A CRPF jawan also lost his life in the encounter.
Officials say the terrorists are believed to have infiltrated through the International Border and managed to reach the dense forests of Machedi that connect Basantgarh in Udhampur and Bhaderwah in Doda district.
The terrorists have also used the route in the past when terrorism was at its peak in the area over two decades ago. The area was cleared of terrorist presence but the revival of terror activities has led to serious security concerns.
More than 50 people have so far been detained for questioning in the attack on the Army patrol truck as a massive manhunt for the terrorists entered the fourth day on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the BSF and J&K Police’s Special Operation Group (SOG) have launched a special drive in the border areas of Samba to track cross-border tunnels, if any, through which Pakistani agencies push in terrorists. The BSF had in the past detected several such cross-border tunnels, particularly in the Samba and Jammu districts.