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IANS Chandigarh
Army columns with artillery moved towards Punjab’s border with Pakistan on Thursday amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan after New Delhi’s surgical strikes across the LoC.
Army convoys could be seen moving towards the border belt in various border districts of Punjab including Fazilka, Ferozepur, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and Pathankot.
Punjab was on maximum alert on Thursday while villagers close to the border with Pakistan were told to move to safer locations following the “surgical strikes” on across the Line of Control.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to Badal over telephone to request him to immediately start the process of evacuation of the people in the villages falling within 10 km of the border, a Punjab government spokesman said.
The request follow apprehensions that Pakistan could retaliate.
The Punjab government has ordered the evacuation of villages in a 10-km belt.
Local authorities used loudspeakers of gurdwaras to ask residents in the border villages to leave their homes and villages.
All schools and other institutions in the border belt have been ordered shut. All leave of Punjab Police and medical personnel in the border areas has been cancelled. Informed sources said the Border Security Force (BSF) was mobilizing its troops and strengthening the security along the border.
Punjab shares a 553-km border with Pakistan. The BSF has cancelled the Retreat ceremony at the Attari-Wagah border joint check-post (JCP) at Attari, 30 km from Amritsar, officials said. The authorities have asked visitors and tourists not to move towards Attari for the ceremony on Thursday.
Army columns with artillery moved towards Punjab’s border with Pakistan on Thursday amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan after New Delhi’s surgical strikes across the LoC.
Army convoys could be seen moving towards the border belt in various border districts of Punjab including Fazilka, Ferozepur, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and Pathankot.
Punjab was on maximum alert on Thursday while villagers close to the border with Pakistan were told to move to safer locations following the “surgical strikes” on across the Line of Control.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to Badal over telephone to request him to immediately start the process of evacuation of the people in the villages falling within 10 km of the border, a Punjab government spokesman said.
The request follow apprehensions that Pakistan could retaliate.
The Punjab government has ordered the evacuation of villages in a 10-km belt.
Local authorities used loudspeakers of gurdwaras to ask residents in the border villages to leave their homes and villages.
All schools and other institutions in the border belt have been ordered shut. All leave of Punjab Police and medical personnel in the border areas has been cancelled. Informed sources said the Border Security Force (BSF) was mobilizing its troops and strengthening the security along the border.
Punjab shares a 553-km border with Pakistan. The BSF has cancelled the Retreat ceremony at the Attari-Wagah border joint check-post (JCP) at Attari, 30 km from Amritsar, officials said. The authorities have asked visitors and tourists not to move towards Attari for the ceremony on Thursday.
