Pak suspects spying through 360-foot Tricolour at Attari
AMRITSAR: Pakistan’s border guards have raised concerns over the tallest Indian Tricolour at Attari, alleging that ‘hidden cameras’ mounted atop the 360feet mast could be used for spying by the Border Security Force (BSF) along the international border.
BSF officials said Pakistan Rangers voiced their concerns during a flag meeting called specifically to raise the issue.
The National Flag — with dimensions of 120x80 feet — was inaugurated on March 5. The earlier record for the tallest flag was one at Jharkhand’s capital Ranchi, raised on a 300-feet pole.
“Pakistan Rangers had raised concerns and even a flag meeting was held. They suspected that there was some camera in the pole but we have told them that there was nothing like that,” a top BSF official said requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.
The Pakistani force had also alleged that the pole violated norms under which any construction is not allowed to 150 metres from the border. “The installation is far behind the 150metre mark,” the BSF official added.
The official said the Pakistan Rangers have “not given anything in writing and if they give, we will send them a written response”.
The BSF official said that the flag meeting was held a few days ago at the company commander level.
BSF sources said the Pakistan Rangers were visibly jittery since March 1, when the 360-feet pole was installed. Besides sending repeated queries to the BSF, a Pakistani Ranger was also seen clicking pictures of the pole. BSF officials said the Tricolour is a project of the Punjab government and is raised government land.