Punjab government has taken a right decision to evacuate around eight lakh people along the Pakistan border, with intelligence sources telling that it is not safe place to reside there during this hour of crisis. The evacuation of around 800 villages situated within 10 km distance of the International Border has become a political issue, with the opposition questioning the rationale behind the move. Though there has been no record of cross-border firing along the Punjab border since 2001 when the multi-layered fencing was completed, the district administration said it had issued orders on the directions of the Home Ministry. Indian Army is on the retaliation mode and the Pakistan terrorists from across the border in Punjab attack Indian posts regularly thereby posing a risk to the lives of people living near border areas. Since the enemy is on the prowl for the prey let us not take it rather lightly and make our people to move to safer places in the wake of firing artillery from across the border to inflict fear and cause loss to human lives. The Border Security Force mans the 2,308 km-long border with Pakistan from Gujarat to Jammu and Kashmir and it is a herculean task to keep the enemy at bay all the time. Evacuation exercise is a clever strategy to be followed during a war like situation on our borders.
S Abhishek Ramaswamy
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
