Thaindian News

Jammu, Aug 2 (IANS) Pakistan was undermining confidence building measures by indulging in activities like digging a 400-metre cross-border tunnel in Samba sector for pushing terrorists to the Indian side, Director General of Border Security Force (BSF) U.K. Bansal said Thursday.

Bansal, who visited the border post in Samba sector on Thursday, saw for himself the tunnel which was allegedly dug by Pakistanis from their end to the Indian side. He described the tunnel as “the evidence of Pakistan’s designs”.

“The digging of such a tunnel goes against the confidence building measures between Indian and Pakistan,” Bansal told reporters after inspecting the 400-metre-long tunnel in Chachwal border belt of Samba sector in Jammu and Kashmir.

He was making an on-the-spot assessment of the situation arising out of the digging of the tunnel from the Pakistani side to the Indian side as he is to prepare a comprehensive report of the pitfalls of such activities on the India-Pakistan relations, especially on the borders.

The BSF director general further said that such things are not going to be helpful. “So this is what we have told them (during a flag meeting where BSF lodged a protest with its Pakistani counterparts),” he said.

Authorities on July 28 had detected the tunnel into India from Pakistan along their border in Samba district.

The tunnel was detected after an area caved-in in a straight line at two-three places due to rains near the border fencing near Chillayari Border Out Post (BoP) of BSF along International Border (IB) in Samba sector.

The tunnel at a depth of 25 feet has been dug between two sides along the IB on India’s Chillayari BoP and Pakistan’s Lumberiyal BoP. It had air supply through a 2-inch pipe. The tunnel is 300-metre-long up to the border fencing and 100 metres beyond the fencing into the Indian side of the border.