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There is no foolproof technology to detect underground tunnels along Indo-Pak fence

A BSF man near the trans-border tunnel which was detected recently in the RS Pura sector of Jammu district. A Tribune photo

Ravi Krishnan Khajuria

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 16

Pakistan’s secret trans-border tunnels on the militancy-hit Jammu and Kashmir frontier have yet again exposed the vulnerability of the anti-infiltration obstacle system (AIOS) along the international border and the Line of Control being guarded by the BSF and the Army, respectively.“The modus operandi of digging tunnels in a bid to push terrorists into J&K is certainly a matter of grave concern. It seems Pakistan has started imitating Hamas fighters, who dig out underground tunnels to enter Israel,” said a source in the counter-insurgency wing of the state police.A top police officer, in charge of a border district in Jammu, said: “Post Pathankot air-base attack there had been a lull along the Indo-Pak international border and when there is a lull, we anticipate something big. The trans-border tunnel in the RS Pura sector was one such act by Pakistan that was detected in time.”Since July 2012, it was the third such cross-border tunnel running into the Jammu region which was detected, he added.Trans-border tunnels detected in Chalyari village of Samba district, Pallanwala in the Akhnoor sector and the RS Pura sector of Jammu district were undoubtedly part of Pakistan’s proxy war against India, he said.“Samba, Jammu and Kathua districts are largely plain areas where tunnelling is easier than it will be in the rocky terrain of the LoC. We need to be more alert to this dangerous modus operandi because even the BSF is not aware of the fact that how many tunnels have been dug by Pakistan,” he added.An Army source said that despite sufficient troops, weaponry and ground-penetrating radars, trans-border tunnels from Pakistan posed a serious challenge to the security forces.Sources said since there was no foolproof technology to detect underground tunnels, the BSF had put the border under physical domination and initiated an anti-tunnelling drive. “We do use ground-penetrating radars but they, too, have a limitation,” a source added.