BSF Director General K K Sharma: ‘Pakistan maintains high foliage on their side that gives cover to militants’

We must admit and realise that we are dealing with a hostile neighbour. We want peace and want to create circumstances in which both the countries prosper. We are never the initiator in any conflict. Unfortunately, Pakistan has got its own policies. They continue to do things that destabilise the peace process. They keep on facilitating infiltration into India through the Line of Control and the international border. As long as they continue to provoke, we will answer with full might. And so far, we have always managed to humiliate them. They have to decide whether they want peace. We have always wanted it.

But amid all this, lives of our jawans are at risk. They are constantly being targeted by snipers from across the border. How do we ensure that we do not lose lives?

We have to guard the border against infiltration and so we have to physically dominate the international border from close quarters. They (Pakistanis) don’t have to. Then, they maintain high foliage on their side that gives cover to militants. Despite our repeated requests, they do not cut down the foliage. Snipers take advantage of these foliage to shoot at our jawans on duty. There is sniping even from Pak posts. We take a lot of precautions with bulletproof jackets and helmets. Yet, we have to suffer loss of lives sometimes due to sniping. We also respond with sniping and shelling and kill more on the Pakistan side. Then matters escalate; talks are held, de-escalation happens. This is an unending process.

To stop infiltration, the government had embarked upon the ambitious project of Comprehensive Integrated Border Management Security (CIBMS) to provide a multi-layered security infrastructure against infiltration. How far has the work progressed?

By August-end or September, we will have commissioned a 60-km stretch of CIBMS on the Indo-Bangladesh border in Dhubri, Assam. In Jammu, by next month, we would have launched a pilot project on two 5-km stretches on the Indo-Pak border. The Jammu terrain is very challenging, but we hope to have the pilot project up and running soon.

Bangladesh is going into elections and the country has already witnessed a spike in fundamentalist activity. How do you see this spilling out on the border and how prepared are you?

We are fully alive to the situation. Fundamentalist elements in Bangladesh are trying to create trouble there and we will ensure that no arms and ammunition go to the other side. We will ensure a peaceful border to help the democratic process in Bangladesh.

You have received praise from Home Minister Rajnath Singh earlier for bringing down cattle smuggling by 90 per cent. He hoped you would completely stop it. How successful have you been?

We are constantly decreasing cattle smuggling. It can’t be reduced by 100 per cent. The terrain is such, with riverine stretches, that it is a border difficult to plug. Local population on either side of the border is of the same ethnicity and religion and they have been doing this for a very long time. Quite a few of them are dependent on this for their livelihood. So they keep looking for opportunities. We will not be able to achieve 100 per cent success till the CIBMS becomes fully operational on the eastern border. And on that, our priority is the Pakistan border as of now.

The force has seen many suicides and fratricides attributed, among other reasons, to stress. Many people blame the mobile phone which has brought a jawan’s family close to the border. It also caused embarrassment for the force in the Tej Pratap Yadav episode.

I believe mobile phones are more of a help than a hindrance. On 99 per cent of occasions, my jawan is talking happily to his family. Only one per cent of the calls are related to stress that gets transferred to the border. I am not in favour of taking away mobile phones.

You put stress on the physical, mental and financial health of your force during your tenure. You have even replaced PT with Yoga.

I have tried all kinds of physical activity, including sports. All are good. But none is as complete an activity as yoga. It is the only exercise that works on internal organs too. Our experience has been very good till now. PT session would see some of our jawans and officers just going through the motions. But with yoga, they commit themselves 100 per cent because they like it.

Last year we had written about how a significant number of those who had qualified for BSF recruitment had refused to join preferring other employment or forces. Why do you think it is so?

Because they don’t know BSF, that’s why. Because they want a softer job. BSF is full of challenges and difficulties. We don’t want such people. We want brave and courageous people who are ready for all challenges to work for us.

Lack of leaves and family time also lead to considerable stress. How are you streamlining that?

This was the first problem I recognised when I became DG. In thirty years of service, our jawans practically spend not more than five years with their families. It is specially tough for those newly married. Now we have Mess for senior officers. But for the constabulary there is none. So we have created temporary Atithi Grihas consisting of 15 rooms at all battalion headquarters so that families of jawans also can come and stay with them. In this a preference is given to newly-wed jawans. They are encouraged to get their wives and live with them in the Mess.