90% of damaged LoC fence repaired

Indian Military Veterans

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 13
Away from the relief and rescue efforts being carried out by the armed forces in flood-ravaged Jammu and Kashmir, Army troops have managed to repair most of the damaged fence along the 749 km-long Line of Control (LoC).

Almost 10 km of fence, largely in the Akhnoor sector, had been washed away or buried under mudslides in the floods that followed heavy rain since the start of this month. More than 90 per cent of this has been re-erected, sources said.

The work to repair the fence is being carried under heavy security with gun-toting troops keeping guard against any intruders.

Restoring the fence along the LoC and also along the 198 km-long international border is the top-most priority, officials said. The Border Security Force (BSF) is deployed along the international border. The fence is a 10 ft-high obstacle of iron girders with coils of barbed wire strung across and it acts as a first obstacle for intruders from PoK.

Almost simultaneously, work is on to repair bunkers, observation posts and shelters used by troops. Some of these had been flooded and were filled with muddy waters forcing evacuation of troops of the Army and BSF with helicopters.

Sources said there were radio intercepts that terrorists based in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) will try and enter Kashmir using the gaps in the fence hoping that the Army’s guard is down. August, September and October are traditionally seen as peak months for infiltrators.

A few IAF and Army Aviation helicopters have reportedly been hit by stones thrown by people, which could have been incited by separatists. Some of the stones hit the copters as there are small “dents” on the body frame. This can turn serious incase the stone is sucked in by the engines or it hits the rotor blades. The copter can drop like a stone killing the crew and those being rescued.