India-Pakistan border will be sealed by December 2018, said Home Minister Rajnath Singh (PTI photo)
Highlights
- Rajnath Singh reviewed border situation with Chief Ministers
- India-Pak border to be sealed by December 2018, Rajnath Singh says
- Extra security at several airports after warnings of possible attack
The India-Pakistan border will be completely sealed by December 2018, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said today after reviewing security in border states with Chief Ministers.
"This is time bound, it will be done by 2018 December. We are readying an action plan," Mr Singh said after the meeting in Rajasthan's Jaisalmer.
A border security grid will be in place soon, he said, adding: "We are also looking at technological solutions to man the border."
The Home Minister is on a two-day visit to review security on India's western border amid tension with Pakistan over a series of ceasefire violations, infiltration attempts and attacks from across the border. He is expected to visit border outposts in Rajasthan and also interact with soldiers.
Around 1,000 km from India's border with Pakistan is in the Thar desert and it is not easy to monitor, say officials. Infiltration, spying and smuggling of arms is a major concern.
NDTV reported on Thursday that intelligence agencies have warned of a
possible terror attack at airports in Rajasthan, Delhi, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Gujarat. 22 airports in the four states have been sent detailed warnings and high security measures are being implemented.
The Civil Aviation Security Bureau has also written to police chiefs, the CISF or the paramilitary force which guards airports and airlines alerting them to the security threat.
A security alert is standard for the festival season but agencies are concerned about retaliation for last week's surgical strikes in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir which saw soldiers targeting seven terrorist launch pads or staging areas.
Intelligence agencies have warned of nearly
100 terrorists being prepped to cross the Line of Control before winter sets in and the routes into Kashmir are covered with snow.
The
surgical strikes a week ago were in response to a deadly attack at an army camp in Uri in Kashmir last month, in which 19 soldiers were killed by four Pakistani terrorists.