Author:
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: March 6, 2001
The recent discovery two days ago
of another secret tunnel on the Indo-Pakistan international border, near
Addian post in Dera Baba Nanak sector, has raised a question mark on the
security aspect.
While ploughing his field, Swaran
Dass, a resident of Chauntra village, accidentally discovered the tunnel
when the foot of his ox fell into the ditch, which was hardly ten metres
away from the fenced border.
The tunnel, dug from the Indian
side, was at least 50 feet deep and implements used for digging were also
discovered from the tunnel site. Dass reported the matter to the nearby
Border Security Force post who kept the matter a secret.
The BSF suspects it to be the handiwork
of the ISI. Arguably the ISI had dug up the tunnel with the help of its
agent to explore possibilities of infiltration to India from Pakistan as
the crossover from across the border has become very difficult with the
fencing of the 564 km-long Punjab border with Pakistan.
Earlier, similar tunnels were discovered
in Dera Baba Nanak sector in Gurdaspur district in November and December,
1999. At that time, the BSF and police put the blame on a Pakistani courier,
Jaika Masih, who was seen in the area for quite some time. He used to cross
the border frequently and dug two different tunnels there but these were
discovered by alert BSF personnel during night patrolling along the border.
