JAMMU, JUNE 12: The much touted plan of fencing the 210-km-long International Border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir has been tossed out following the Central government's decision to shift the fencing material to Rajasthan.Sources said the decision was taken at a high-level Union Home Ministry meeting recently in view of the fact that fencing work was already in progress along the Indo-Pak border in Rajasthan. ``The material used for making fences, including the barbed wire and flood-lights, is being shifted to Rajasthan as per demand,'' they added. Officials in the Central Public Works Department justified the move pointing to the uncertainty about resumption of fencing work in the state. ``It is no use keeping material worth crores here any more as it has been rusting in the stores for the last three years. We can procure it afresh whenever the Central government decides to resume fencing work along the international border in the state,'' an official said.Earlier, some of the material had also beenshifted to Punjab to plug gaps created along the IB when portions of barbed wire were washed away in flash floods. The CPWD had started sealing the IB in Akhnoor sector to check transborder activities in July 1995. However, the work had to be abandoned immediately following heavy firing by Pak Rangers. The main objection of the Rangers to the barbed wire fencing was that the Indo-Pak border from Akhnoor to Paharpur was a `working boundary' and not the International Border between the two countries.Since then, the fencing work remained in suspended animation despite announcements of resumption of work by successive Central governments. However, every time, these announcements were made, the Pak Rangers resorted to firing, creating problems for civilians living near the border.Later, the Border Security Force charted out a strategy to resume the work and even procured specially designed bullet-proof sheets and tractors for the purpose. However, the Rangers from across the border stepped up the firing,leading to civilian casualties.A proposal to build the fence 300-400 metres away from the IB was also shot down by the Centre following opposition by the state. The state government insisted on having the fence right on the zero line as it would otherwise be required to shell out huge amounts of compensation for agricultural land that remained beyond the fence. Having recognised the futility of efforts to resume fencing work, the BSF has now turned its attention to transborder activities. Senior security officials here said they have set up additional pickets along the border thus reducing the distance between two border pickets from four km to one km.Security forces have also set up permanent nakas about 150 metres behind the cattle fencing, which already exists at several places along the IB. Sources said halogen and solar lights were being installed between these permanent pickets and the cattle fencing to illuminate the area at night.Gaps along the border were being plugged by setting up nakasand intensifying patrolling, sources added.
