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Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow
An elite border force would man a 700-km stretch of Uttar Pradesh's border with Nepal to check infiltration by terrorists and subversive agents, a top official said.
The move to deploy the Subsidiary Secret Bureau comes in the wake of the reported rise in the activities of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence along the highly porous border between India and Nepal, the official said.
State's principal home secretary Naresh Dayal said four battalions of the SSB comprising 3,600 personnel would maintain the vigil on India-Nepal border.
"The recent arrests of ISI-funded Kashmiri and Pakistani militants in different parts of Uttar Pradesh has confirmed our suspicions about the border being used as a convenient passage by the terrorists," Dayal said.
Dayal said the proposal to deploy the SSB along the India-Nepal border had been hanging fire for sometime.
"The decision to deploy the SSB was taken at a high level meeting with home ministry officials in New Delhi last week," he added.
"SSB units would formally take up positions by the end of this month to replace the UP-Nepal Border Police, which was likely to be disbanded," said Dayal.
Dayal said deployment of the SSB would be done in a phased manner.
"The forest covered districts of Lakhimpur Kheri and Pilibhit would be targeted first. Deployment in other districts would follow depending on the availability of SSB units currently stationed in Kashmir and in the northeastern states," Dayal said.
Indo-Asian News Service
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