*Centre sanctions Rs 2300 crore modernisation plan
http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/web1/03aug09/news.htm#3 NEW DELHI, Aug 8: The Centre has sanctioned Rs 2,300
crore for modernisation of the Border Security Force
(BSF) and the paramilitary taken inventory of advanced
surveillance equipment that would enable monitoring
subversive activities deep inside Pakistan, BSF
Director General Ajai Raj Sharma said today.
Delivering the keynote address, "role of BSF in
guarding the borders and promoting national security"
during the memorial lecture on the founding father of
the BSF K F Rustamji here, he said some hand-held
sensors capable of long-range penetration had been
handled and found satisfactory.
It was also awaiting the result of the report
submitted by a committee to Deputy Prime Minister L K
Advani about the security along India’s borders,
particularly with Pakistan and Bangladesh, he said.
In the past ten to 15 years the emphasis had been on
counter-insurgency, having tackled the problem of
terrorism in Punjab, but the "militants still strike
at will" and at any given time there were 2,500 to
3,000 militants in Jammu and Kashmir.
The only answer to this was border fencing, the
Director General said and the BSF had opted to "take
the risk although it is not its responsibility" and
suffered a quite a number of casualties in the
bargain. On the same note, Mr Sharma said, "the latest
weaponry in the armoury of Pakistani militants is the
Fidayeen attacks and the very first attck on a BSF
campus in Bandipur had resulted in the killing of a
DIG and two others. It is gratifying that the Fidayeen
have got a befitting reply, whenever they targated BSF
camps".
In counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir
since 1990, the BSF has killed more than 4,200
militants and apprehended some 12,000 ultras and
"anti-national elements," he added.
Another major task of the force was checking illegal
migration from the eastern borders. "It is ironical
that Bangladesh, which owes its very birth to the
sacrifices made by our forces, is today posing a
serious threat to our national security by encouraging
illegal infiltration," the Director General said.
He added that "fundamentalist elements in Bangladesh"
had been propogating that the border defined at the
time of partition (1971) was no longer relevent and
needed to be changed.
Replying to a question on the trafficking of women
from Bangladesh, he said it was largely a result of
poverty in that country. "For just a few hundred
rupees, these women have to take to the flesh trade."
However, the problem was being addressed by the BSF
along with the cooperation of the Bangladesh Rifles
(BDR) and efforts had been stepped up on both sides of
the border to arrest touts and other involved in the
trade, Mr Sharma added.
The memorial lecture on the first Director General of
the BSF, was also addressed at the Institute of Social
Sciences (ISS) by National Police Academy former
Director and National Human Rights Commission former
Director-General Sankar Sen, Mr A K Dave of the Indian
Police who was a contemporary of Mr Rustamji and Dr
George Mathew, Director of ISS. (UNI)
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