BSF to bullet-proof Attari gates after Wagah blast

AMRITSAR: The Border Security Force has decided to bullet-proof the gates at the international border of Attari, Hussaniwala and Sadqi to bolster its defence against any cross-border attack keeping in mind the Wagah border suicide bombing in Pakistan.

On November 2, 2014, a suicide bomber of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, had blown himself up near the viewers' gallery at Wagah, killing 60 Pakistani viewers. The terror attack barely a stone's throw away from the international border had set alarm bells ringing on the Indian side, forcing BSF to adopt additional security measures for viewers.

Hundreds of visitors throng these border outposts every day to watch the beating the retreat ceremony.

For the first time since Partition, BSF has installed rolling bullet-proof screens in front of Attari land border gates to protect viewers from any direct small arm fire from across the border or from stray splinters in case of a suicide bombing near the border.

"We can't depend upon their (Pak Rangers) security arrangements," said BSF deputy inspector general, Amritsar sector, MF Farooqui while talking to TOI on Saturday.

More than 10,000-15,000 visitors come for the Attari retreat ceremony every day, but the number of people going to Hussaniwala and Sadqi is much lower. Farooqui said he had also proposed installing bullet-proof glass on either side of the border gate at Attari in case of any direct fire from the Pakistani side.

Sources said bullet-proof glass walls would also be installed at Hussaniwala, Ferozepur and Sadqi international border outposts.

At Hussaniwala, the international border diagonally cuts across the road to Pakistan and viewers of both nations sit in close proximity in a verandah-like enclosure and watch as border guards of both nations cross the international border to lower their respective flags.