Thaindian News

Attari (Punjab), March 28 (IANS) Sticking to their earlier stand, Pakistan Rangers Director General (Punjab) Muhammad Yaqub Khan Sunday reiterated that no smuggling and infiltration was taking place from the Pakistani side into Indian territory.
“The international border with India is effectively protected and well guarded. Presence of heavy security and fencing on Indian side makes infiltration and smuggling difficult,” Khan Sunday told reporters here, around 25 km from Amritsar.

Khan, accompanied by a 15-member delegation from Pakistan, had reached India Sunday, through the Attari-Wagah check-post. He will participate in the four-day biannual meeting (March 28-31) with the top brass of Border Security Force (BSF) in Amritsar, around 250 km from the state capital Chandigarh.

“We are here for a high-level dialogue with the BSF in connection with border-related issues. We carry out meetings in a congenial atmosphere to discuss sensitive issues like infiltration, smuggling from both the sides and the firing instances,” stated Khan.

While talking about the recent instances of firing of rocket shells into Indian territory from Pakistan, Khan said: “We looked into these allegations by the BSF but nothing concrete was traced. No such thing was found in the massive search operation conducted in Pakistan. Even India has no proof that the rockets were fired from our side.”

“However, we had lodged strong protest with the BSF when they fired at the pickets of Pakistan Rangers,” he pointed out.

According to the BSF, nearly 15 rocket shells were fired from Pakistan towards the Amritsar area in June and September last year and in January this year.

Besides, cases of illegal infiltration and smuggling across the border are also on the rise.

In the last 10 days, in two separate incidents on the border, BSF officials have gunned down three Pakistani intruders and recovered 26 kg heroin and fake Indian currency with a face value of Rs.83 lakh.