Tejinder sodhi
Nowgam Sector (kupawara): Rajesh Kumar, an Indian soldier posted on the frontline in Kashmir has been sleeping better over the last few months.
The guns on one of the world’s most militarized borders are silent for the first time in years after India and Pakistan agreed to a cease fire in November.
And earlier this year, army engineers fenced a cease fire line in Kumar’s area to prevent incursion by militants.
“It has made a big difference. We know the fence won’t allow those infiltrators to cross over so easily.” Kumar said.
And if they try to breach it, we’ll get to know and stop them.”
The fence is considered New Delhi’s most ambitious military attempt to curb the cross border influx of militants from bases on Pakistani soil since militancy started in Kashmir in 1989.
Built well inside Indian Territory, it passes through some of the most inhospitable terrain in the subcontinent, covering jungles, Rocky Mountains, slopes covered by snow in winter, deep gorges and valleys with fast- flowing streams.
At Gwalta Post, a remote border point west of srinagar Kashmir,s main city, the silver colored fence begins in a gorge on the banks of the Jehlum river, and snakes its way up on a rocky hillside covered with shrubs and trees.
It consists of three rows of concertina wire, about 10 feet high, electrified and connected to a network of motion sensing, thermal imaging devices and alarms India has acquired from the United states and Israel.
It covers a distance of about 2 miles to the peak before plunging down the slope on the other side and running as far as the eye can see.
The fence is watched by Gurkha soldiers equipped with night-vision binoculars, stationed in a mountain-top post.
The other side is monitored by posts on the edge of the gorge, where shepherds lazily graze their sheep and turrets of heavy artillery guns point skywards towards Pakistan.
India began fencing the 460 miles Line of Control that divides Kashmir between the nuclear-armed foes nearly two years ago. But progress was slowed by the tough terrain, which allows only about 310 miles of the frontier to be fenced and regular exchange of fire between troops on the two sides.
Last November’s truce, however, helped it gather pace and the project is now almost complete.
‘The fence is big hindrance, a major obstacle,” Lt. Col. George Abhraham, commander Kumar’s Unit, told this reporter. “It is monitored round the clock.”
“If it prevents an infiltrator 90 percent we will take care of the other 10 percent,” he said.
“But it is not impregnable. And knowing those fellows, they will try to overcome it.”
Militant groups say the fence is India’s attempt to convert a temporary cease-fire line into a permanent border, a move long opposed by Pakistan
It has also not been deterred them from trying to sneak in.
A top army commander said there were over 20 infiltration attempts in three weeks between late June and mid July.
More than 20 rebels were killed trying to cross over, some carrying shock proof gloves and wire cutters.
Islamabad has citied the fence saying New Delhi has taken advantage of the ceasefire and was not justified in building it.
But Pakistan’s anger has seemed rather muted. Some analysts say the project might even have Islamabad’s tacit approval, since it takes the pressure off Pakistan to prevent rebel incursion.
Fencing would have been impossible if Pakistan wanted to prevent it.
Reyaz Ahmad a journalist in Kashmir said, “I think Pakistan does not want to play the militant card in the future because it has not worked for so many years,”
“They want to give an impression to the international community and to India that they are very serious about not encouraging the militants,” he said. But if the ongoing peace process falters, the fence could become a target.
“It can be greatly damaged by firing and gaps can be created if there is military action. So it is not such a formidable wall.”