Gaps Along Pakistan, Bangladesh Border To Be Closed In The Next 2 Years: HM Shah

India is set to fence and close the gap between two major borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh in two years, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Friday. The work has been initiated to cover a 60-kilometer stretch along these two fronts.

Shah was speaking at a ceremonial parade of the Border Security Force (BSF) on the occasion of its 59th Raising Day celebrations in Hazaribag, Jharkhand. The government has fenced 560 km of the India-Pakistan and India-Bangladesh borders since it came to power nine years ago.

Now only about 60 km are left. When the work is finished, the entire border will be secure for good. The two borders—2,290 km of the India-Pakistan International Border and 4,096 km of the India-Bangladesh border—are found to be riverine, mountainous, and marshy, which makes it difficult to erect fences there. The BSF and other agencies are using technical gadgets to check for infiltration.

“I firmly believe that a country cannot develop and prosper if its borders are not secure. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has led the country to the moon with the Chandrayaan mission, the G20 Summit, and brought the economy from the 11th to the fifth spot, and this was all possible due to our forces deployed for securing the borders like the BSF,” he said.

“You, the BSF, are the essential pillar of this journey,” the minister told the BSF personnel at the “Meru” training camp here during his 22-minute-long address.

“I believe that the border fence does not alone protect the country; it only helps in rendering this task. It is the brave BSF jawan who does this task,” he said.