Peace is visible on the India–Pakistan border as the ceasefire between the two countries completes a year on Friday, but Pakistan continues to play mischief by pushing in terrorists by digging cross-border tunnels and using drones to fly arms and narcotics into the Indian territory.

Residents of villages on either side of the International Border (IB) and Line of Control (LoC) are visibly happy after the guns fell silent since 25 February last year when in a surprise development armies of both countries announced the ceasefire and recommitted themselves to the 2003 Vajpayee era ceasefire agreement.

However, fear of arms and narcotics being dumped by Pakistan in border villages haunts the residents. The Border Security Force (BSF) in successive sector commander level meetings with the Pakistan Rangers has strongly raised the issue of Pakistan drones violating the IB by intruding into the Indian territory and also facilitating infiltration of terrorists through tunnels originating from the border posts of the Pak Rangers.

BSF has warned that such mischief of Pakistan was unacceptable. The February 2021 ceasefire is not new between the two countries as the earlier pact during the Vajpayee regime in 2003 was a successful experiment that lasted more than ten years.

Gyan Chand, a resident of the Suchetgarh village right on the IB, is satisfied with the ceasefire as he and other farmers of the area are in a position to plough their fields upto the zero line of the border.

This was earlier not possible as Pakistani troops would open fire at the farmers trying to take care of their crops near the border. Mortar shelling by Pakistan that was a routine affair took toll of large number of people along the IB and LOC of the Indian side.

The Northern Army Commander, Lt General Upendra Dwivedi, recently appreciated the strict control exercised by the formations of the Kashmir based Chinar Corps to abide by the cease fire understanding between the DGMOs of both India and Pakistan.

It is worth mentioning that while the ceasefire has brought peace, but the cross-border tunnels on the India–Pakistan boundary for infiltration of terrorists and drones for dropping arms and ammunition on this side of the international border (IB) have become the new challenge for the Indian security forces.

Tunnel after tunnel has been detected at the IB by the BSF. Pakistani security agencies were building tunnels and using Chinese drones to bypass the border fencing of India that had to a great extent helped curbing infiltration of terrorists and also dumping arms and ammunition for them by the ISI and Pakistani army.

Engineering wings of the Pakistani agencies appear to have professionally built these tunnels about 30 ft deep from the surface.

BSF and the Army have already installed highly sensitive devises and night vision cameras on the IB and the Line of Control (LoC) to detect infiltration of terrorists. However to bypass such gadgets, the tunneling process has been done by the enemy.

Similarly, drones are flown at a low height to just cross the border fence and drop arms and ammunition for terrorists. Several dumps of AK47 rifles, M-4 rifles, Chinese grenades and other explosives have from time to time been recovered along the IB and LoC.

J&K DGP Dilbag Singh said that hexacopters (drones) being used by Pakistan to drop arms and ammunition on this side of the border are a new challenge for security forces.

India is also trying hard to build its anti-drone capacities to check the menace. Air dropping of arms and ammunition was first reported in Punjab and subsequently extended to Jammu and Kashmir. BSF shot down a Hexacopter with a payload of five-and-a-half kilograms including a sophisticated US-made M4 semi-automatic carbine and seven grenades in Kathua district.

The BSF launched a massive anti-tunneling drive on the entire IB. Due to its constant search and active domination BSF troops detected 2 terror tunnels dug by Pakistan in Samba area.