The top brass of the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) have requested the Union home ministry to raise additional battalions to fortify the frontiers with Pakistan and China amid heightened tension along the two borders, sources in the two forces have told The Telegraph.
ITBP guards the 3,488km Line of Actual Control with China while the BSF is deployed at the International Border with Pakistan and also at the Bangladesh frontier that runs through Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram.
Indian and Chinese armies have been locked in a border standoff in eastern Ladakh since May last year. Indian security agencies are also concerned over infiltration bids from Pakistan and the spike in incidents of Pakistani drones entering Indian territory to drop arms, ammunition, drugs and money to fuel terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.
“We need more battalions and have requested the Union home ministry to look into our proposal,” said a BSF official.
Sources in the ministry said the two border-guarding forces felt that additional battalions were needed to ensure better patrolling in sensitive areas.
Sources in the security establishment have hinted at a collusive threat from Pakistan and China amid the border standoff in eastern Ladakh. The latest intelligence report has suggested that Chinese troops were conducting joint patrols with Pakistan’s army in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, and Beijing is helping set up multiple surface-to-air missile launch sites and a missile defence system in the region.