By IANS
Kozhikode/New Delhi : India is taking all precautions to guard its western frontier in the wake of the political turmoil in Pakistan, Defence Minister A.K. Antony and a top Indian Army commander separately said Monday.
Terming the developments in Pakistan as “unfortunate”, Antony said at a press conference in Kozhikode in Kerala that the Indian Army and the security forces have been asked to remain on high alert, even though no trouble was anticipated.
According to the minister, the emergency declared in Pakistan was “an internal matter of that country and we don’t want to say anything on that”.
“India won’t do anything that will affect our relationship with that country,” Antony maintained, adding: “We wish that normalcy be restored in Pakistan at the earliest.”
He said that though there were occasional attempts at infiltration from across the border, “no firing from Pakistani troops has been reported for the last three years. We hope this will continue.”
The Indian Army Vice-Chief, Lt. Gen. Milan Lalitkumar Naidu, was a little more forthcoming.
According to Naidu, the Indian Army had stepped up its vigil on the frontier with Pakistan to prevent infiltration of terrorists fleeing that country following the declaration of emergency.
He said the army was also “worried” over the stepped-up terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country as these pointed to a “trend” of Pakistan-backed “sleeper cells” in India being activated to draw attention away from the tumultuous situation in the western neighbour.
“We are reading the situation (in Pakistan) very closely and we are taking steps to ensure we are not surprised (by a sudden infiltration of militants)”, Naidu said at his first media interaction in New Delhi after assuming office last month.
“The emergency (in Pakistan) could lead to more infiltration, so we are more alert,” he added.
According to Naidu, soon after the emergency was declared in Pakistan Nov 3, the paramilitary Border Security Force (BSF) that guards the international border with Pakistan in Rajasthan, Punjab and a small stretch in Kashmir’s Jammu region “had been placed on high alert”.
“Our troops along the LoC (Line of Control in Kashmir) are already on high alert. We hope there will be no additional infiltration. Our troops are very much alive to the situation,” he added.
As for the increased terrorist violence in Kashmir and elsewhere that India blames on Pakistan-backed groups, Naidu said this was a “cause to worry about”.
“It shows a trend of sleeper cells being activated. The NSA (National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan) has already spoken of such sleeper cells being responsible for the blasts in Ajmer and Hyderabad. We are keeping abreast of the situation,” the vice chief said.
The upsurge in terrorist activities, he said, had begun about a month ago.
“Therefore, I can’t say whether this is linked to the emergency (in Pakistan) but it could well be,” Naidu maintained.