War on drugs brings Indo-Pak border village in BSF crosshairs

The village is uniquely situated along the Indo-Pak border. It is surrounded by Pakistan from three sides as the Indian territory forms a bulge into Pakistan at this point along the border. The Indian enclave where Daoke is located is ringed by half a dozen villages of Pakistan Punjab, which are just a short distance from the border. One Pakistani village, Maujoke, is virtually at a stones’s throw from the border and is clearly visible from here. Five-and-a-half kg Heroin has been found from Daoke village in two separate seizures by the BSF earlier this month. And the village has a history of ‘grand’ seizures upto a dozen kg over the past few years.

With a CCTV monitor behind him, relaying the feed of cameras covering the entrance to his house, Kulwant Singh is not very appreciative about the BSF efforts. “They have suddenly started getting accurate information about the places where Heroin has been left on the Indian side of the border. Maybe they are trying to show some output to support the drive announced by the new state government. In any case, most drugs have been seized from fields of Congress supporters,” he says with a grin.

With a population of nearly 4500, Daoke is linked by a narrow road over some rickety bridges to the rest of the country. Even the ditch-cum-bundh used by the defence forces for staging protection against any attack by Pakistani forces is located well in the rear of the village. Farming is the major vocation of the residents and a large number of them have land across the border fence. The village has well-built houses with barely one or two mud walls seen in the entire village.

Kulwant Singh, who has nearly 20 acres across the border fence, says the border villagers are wrongly defamed for being involved in the drug trade. “The drug trade is carried out by those sitting in the hinterland. We are blamed because we are on the border. Before the fence came up there was smuggling of gold and silver, I admit, but the drug smuggling is done by rich people,” he says.

A member of the Panchayat, Chanan Singh, an octagenarian, also has about 10 acres of land across the fence. “How come there is smuggling taking place despite such heavy presence of BSF on the border? There are floodlights, there are cameras, there is thorough checking of those going across the fence for cultivation yet it is taking place,” he says.

There are five gates on the fencing along this part of the Indo-Pak border, which allows villagers to cultivate limited crops along the border. Strict timings are observed and a complete inspection of farm equipment, tractors and farmers is done while entering or leaving the land across the fence.

Yet, BSF officials say that innovative methods have been noticed to carry out smuggling. Recoveries have been made from the PVC pipes which have been laid from the tubewells on one side of the fence leading to the fields across the fence. Pakistani smugglers fill bottles with drugs which are then pulled to the Indian side with a cord tied to them.

When asked about this new method of smuggling drugs, Kulwant Singh offers some reasoning on a different line. “Maybe the rope got broken and the bottles got stuck. Maybe some BSF guy saw someone putting the stuff in the pipe. Who knows,” he muses, even as he emphasises that no local person is involved.

BSF officials, however, say that it’s their strict vigil which is paying dividends. Data provided by the Punjab Frontier Headquarters of BSF reveals that this year alone 64.721 kg of heroin has been recovered from the border villages. This is in addition to 1.5 kg opium and arms and ammunition of various sorts and Pakistan mobile sim cards. The BSF has also apprehended 15 Indian border crossers, two Bangaldeshis, apprehended five Pakistanis and interdicted two Pakistanis.

With 25 acres of land along the border, Kashmir Singh, is well versed with the problems faced due to the drug seizures made in the fields of the village and not impressed with BSF data. “We have not been across the fence in last 20 days. How can we be involved in the drugs seizures of the last 10 days? The farmer on whose fields the drugs are found are harassed. When BSF has cameras which it claims can even detect a field rat at night then why cannot they see human beings and shoot them,” he questions.