The proposed security grid to completely seal the border with Pakistan by December, 2018 would be a new concept. Home Minister Rajnath Singh while presiding over a security review meeting with border state Chief Ministers emphasised that the grid would use effective means including technological solutions. An Israel-type highly secured fencing could be the answer to check the cross-border infiltration of militants all along the Indo-Pak on the sensitive frontiers of Punjab and Jammu. In the wake of Pathankot terror attack, which was carried out by the Pakistan-based JeM terrorists after crossing the border, the issue of ensuring zero infiltration along the Indo-Pak border was discussed in several meetings attended by top government functionaries, including Home Minister Rajnath Singh and NSA Ajit Doval. Interestingly, in November 2014, the Home Minister had visited one of the border outposts in Gaza and was “greatly impressed” by the technology used in the highly sophisticated border security system of Israel which includes high-quality long-range day cameras along with night observation systems employing third generation thermal imagers. At that time Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had reportedly told Singh that Israel was “ready and willing” to share with India its technology for border protection. Israel is hailed to have the best border protection system in the world, and depends more on technology than humans to protect its border. The Home Minister was told that in certain “dark areas” where fencing was not possible, like on India-Pakistan border, Israel had used small UAVs for security coverage. Besides, every border post on the Israel border is a self-sufficient unit. Recently, Hungary and Bulgaria have turned to Israel for advice on building a fence modelled on the one set up on the southern Israeli border with Egypt to stop influx of refugees. The Home Minister said under the action plan of sealing the border, technology will also be used. “Like we have ravines and Sir Creek area in Gujarat, there we will make maximum use of technology for effective sealing of border. The mechanism to come in the place would be an upgraded variant of 1990 fence which has helped in checking the infiltration of militants considerably and with the scheme of the things going in the right direction India can see substantial decline in militants infiltration across the border in coming days.
