Wagah Border:
The Border Security Force (BSF) has deployed its first batch of women battalion along the highly-sensitive Indo-Pak border. The women troopers are trained to handle any situation arising at the border.
Amandeep Sharma is one such women who has been deployed on the Wagah border check post. She grew up in a small village in Punjab watching men join the forces - a dream she had made her own.
''I had the desire to join the forces from childhood. I feel very proud. We hold meetings with officers and feel proud to have joined the BSF,'' she said.
The women battalion trained to frisk, patrol and take part in counter-infiltration operations, has got a surprise red-carpet welcome from local women farmers, who couldn't be frisked earlier.
''Men cannot frisk women, only women can. So we couldn't go to our fields. Now as women will frisk us, we can go to work easily,'' said Balwinder Kaur, a local farmer.
The BSF also says that in the next two months more women will be deployed along the border because they can create a better rapport with the locals.
''With the deployment of the ladies also, we hope that hostilities between the farmers and the BSF will scale down and now they will come up more regarding giving inputs to the BSF,'' said Mohammad Aquil, DIG of BSF.
The women troopers will be the first batch to join the duty on international border. Right now they have been given the job of frisking but they can perform any job like a normal BSF jawan does. It will eventually help in better coordination between the locals and the BSF and also increase the efficiency of the forces.