Laser walls to protect India from future terror attacks
NEW DELHI: India will erect laser walls to secure more than 40 unfenced riverine stretches along the border to stop Pakistani militants from sneaking in and carrying out deadly attacks like this month’s terror strike at Punjab’s Pathankot airbase, say sources.
The technology developed by the Border Security Force (BSF) will be employed at all these vulnerable points in Punjab where a fence cannot be set up, with the home ministry making the issue a top priority.
A laser wall is a mechanism to detect objects passing the line of sight between the laser source and the detector. A laser beam over a river sets off a loud siren in case of a breach.
Sources say the six alleged Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorists involved in the Pathankot attack crossed over to India from Pakistan near the Ujj river at Bamiyal village in Punjab with no protective fence present in the area. A camera to keep watch over the 130-metre-wide riverbed was found to be not recording footage. As of now, only five to six of around 40 vulnerable points are covered by laser walls.
The development comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the site of the longdrawn encounter during which seven Indian soldiers and all the terrorists were killed and he also took stock of security at the border area. Following the attack, defence minister Manohar Parrikar had said there were some “gaps”, adding that the BSF had been asked to give details of areas from where the terrorists could have entered and a security audit of all defence installations was also being carried out.
The BSF began erecting laser walls at unfenced riverine stretches of the international border last year in the Jammu sector, which was more prone to terrorist intrusions till three militants carried out an attack in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district in July last year.
The force put up a laser wall at Bamiyal last week before Modi’s Pathankot visit on January 9.
The area has BSF posts on either side of the river with a soldier on each post keeping watch on the river round the clock. The stretch is also lit up with highmast lights.
Officials said Bamiyal is not known as a drug trafficking route as no drugs have been seized here over the past three-four years.
The BSF has already deployed additional personnel along the border in Punjab and boat patrolling has been intensified, particularly during the night.