Abuses fly in from Pakistan, attached to balloons

CHANDIGARH: At least three dozen balloons with abusive messages in Urdu against India were recovered by Border Security Force (BSF) personnel from various outposts along the Punjab border on Saturday.

Officials said most of the balloons were recovered from outposts in Ferozepur, Pathankot and Amritsar.

Notes attached with the balloons mostly had obscenities for Indian women and security forces. Some of them were addressed to PM Narendra Modi, daring him to "check and verify the valour of Pakistan armed forces".

"Modi sun le, Ayubi ki talwar abhi hamare paas hai," read a note attached with a balloon recovered from the Sehjera outpost in Ferozepur.

In January, just before Republic Day, the Indian Air Force had shot down a US made helium balloon over Rajasthan after it had floated in from Pakistan. The shiny balloon, three metres in diameter, with "Happy Birthday" written on it was flying at a height of about 25,000 feet in Jaisalmer district when it was picked up by Air Force radars. At the time, defence officials had wondered if Pakistanis were using the innocuous balloon to check India's response time.

On Saturday, some of the balloons were seen flying at an altitude of 8-10km, BSF sources said. Most of them had a diameter of one to two inches.

"We have taken this incident seriously The sensors at the outposts in Pakistan can easily detect such objects when they are flown from their land. If they deliberately ignored it, then it's a serious concern as the balloons have nasty messages on them," said a senior BSF official. "Some of them may have flown at altitudes higher than helicopters can," he added. A few of them travelled as far as Kartapur in Jalandhar.