Big Pak build-up along borders
NEW DELHI, OCT. 4 Reports reaching here from Punjab speak of a massive military build-up by Pakistan across India’s western border.
Troops, backed by sufficient armour, have been shifted to strategic points along the 342 mile border. These are supposed to be advance elements with considerable striking power.
The Defence Minister however, would wake no official comments on these reports.
Reports of similar warlike preparations by Pakistan have been received from the eastern sector too. According to our Karimganj correspondent. Pakistani troops have constructed with the help of forced labour, a 15 km long and six foot.” deep trench from Jakiganj, just opposite Karmangj town, to Sheola. It will help the Pakistani troops in any emergency to move freely and reinforce their strength on the border.
With the end of the rainy season. Pakistani troops have been strengthening their bunkers and the entire population from Bhuga, Chandpur. Kaharampur and Kumarshail areas on the Bangladesh border are being shifted to Barlekha.
Our special correspondent in New Delhi adds: The Pakistani build-up coincides with the crush-India hysteria now raging in Pakistan. Foreign tourists reported they had seen plenty of posters in many towns including Lahore, declaring. “India our main enemy,” “Annihilate India.”
Pak Army units are now much closer to the Indian border than a fortnight ago. Certain stretches of the border have been mined. Local people from these areas have been evacuated by Pakistan.
Military preparedness is also reported to have been noticed in the Rann if Kutch area.
Defensive preparations have been quickened in the vital SialkotKasur sector. Two more anti-tank ditches have been dug in order to strengthen the defences of the 160 miles Ichhogil Canal, seven miles west of the Indian border.
A dusk to dawn curfew has been clamped on the border areas of Pakistan adjacent to Jammu. Such a strict curfew was not imposed in Pakistan, even in September 1965.
According to authoritative information available in Jammu, the entre border area in Pakistan is under strict control of the Pakistan Army Troops have been ordered to shoot at sight.
No light is visible across the border at night, according to observers who have been watching the movement of Pak troops along the border.
Sound of bullet shots is heard on this side which indicates that Pakistani soldiers may be shooting at civilians who come out at night by mistake. A report said five Pak civilians had been shot dead by the Army during the past seven days.
Reference: Hindustan Standard 5.10.1971