Despite its notorious track record of arms smuggling, the Rann of Kutch continues to be one the most vulnerable points of infiltration.
BHUJ: Miles and miles of derelict terrain here is thick with scorpions, snakes and double agents. The evening breeze carries salt from the nearby Kori Creek. To a seasoned nose, it also, sometimes, brings the smell of danger lurking in the maze of mangroves that makes up this stretch of the India-Pakistan border.
However, the 100-odd-km waterfront from Savla Pir to Harami Nullah - arguably one of the most vulnerable points of infiltration in the Rann of Kutch - is manned by just two floating border outposts (FBOP), each armed with just four, puny speedboats. From April to August, four such outposts supposed to be guarding this stretch are kept out of action by the Border Security Force (BSF) citing choppy seas. Defence experts say this is surprising, considering the area's notorious track record. Recently, a cache of arms allegedly arrived from Pakistan here and found its way to a small, rented flat at Nizammudin in Delhi. The police shot down Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) man Abu Hamza and arrested two of his accomplices.
Apart from numerous other instances, one that would go down in history is that of a dispatch making its way from Porbander to Tiger Memon in 1993, supervised by a landing agent named Umarmia Bukhari alias Mamumia. The RDX that killed hundreds on Mumbai's Black Friday was believed to have found its way through the creek and the marshlands here. Lastly, intrusion by the Pakistani infantry into the Indian terrain here in 1965 had triggered a full-fledged war.
But while six floating border outposts have been allocated to the BSF to patrol the Kori, Pirsanai, Pabewari and Padala Creek area, only two have been positioned at Koteshwar. The remaining four have been anchored at Jhakau jetty, about 100km away from Bhuj.
Moreover, the area has nearly 400 smaller creeks thick with mangroves. The boats with BSF were not equipped to patrol this area, making it conducive for insurgents, said Intelligence Bureau (IB) sources. K Subramanyam, a strategic analyst, in a lecture delivered to the BSF on May 19, criticised BSF for corruption. "BSF was raised to reduce the porosity of the border. However, the border continues to be porous because of corruption in the force," he said. The local BSF is currently facing a probe for selling diesel allocated to it for patrolling in the local market.
Pakistani cellphone signals are a concern
Agencies
GADULI/KUTCH: If one can smuggle in a SIM card belonging to a Pakistani mobile operator, then how would the counter-intelligence agency benefit by employing a covert agent, POW, defector or an overt military 'reconnoiter'? This scenario has been a serious concern for intelligence agencies working in the bordering villages of Gujarat.
Intelligence sleuths say the signal is available in the bordering villages of Gaduli, Lakhpat, Guneri, Mudhan, Chher and Pachham. The SIM card would not only provide untapped information to those in Pakistan, but could also prove effective in alerting an insurgent on minute aspects of security, they add.
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