‘ Tunnel was meant for infiltrators’

The Army said on Tuesday that a 150- metrelong tunnel, which was recently discovered near one of its forward posts along the India- Pakistan border in Jammu region’s Pallanwala sector, was apparently aimed at infiltrating militants.

“Having failed to infiltrate terrorists across the Line of Control in the Jammu division, there was an attempt to con- struct a tunnel across it( to facilitate infiltration),” an Army spokesperson in Jammu alleged. There has been no immediate reaction to the Indian charge by Pakistan. However, Islamabad and the Pakistan Army and rangers have in the past strongly denied such charges.

India and Pakistan have traded gun and mortar fire frequently along the Jammu- Sialkote border in recent weeks during which four civilians were killed and over two dozen wounded on both sides. Both the sides accused each other of initiating violations of the November 2003 agreement.

However, the skirmishes stopped after the two sides held a flag meeting at a senior level on August 29. The tunnel, discovered on August 22, is approximately 130 to 150 metres in length on the Indian side of the LoC.