Srinagar: Army Tuesday said that the secret tunnel discovered on August 22 last month following the spate of India-Pakistan border skirmishes in the forward area of Chakla along Munawar Tawi in Pallanwalla sector of Akhnoor is 20 feet below ground level and is four feet high.
Defence spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Manish Mehta said that Army noticed a depression in the ground and after investigating the same with ground penetrating radar and other equipment, this revelation came to fore that it construction of secret tunnel was aimed at to push the infiltrators towards this part of Jammu and Kashmir.
Pertinently the Army had initially denied detection of the tunnel but now it has confirmed the reports about its detection. According to Army, the tunnel is approximately 130 to 150 meters in length on Indian side of the Line of Control and originated on the Pakistan Side. The tunnel according to Defence sources said that the tunnel was found after land caved in during the recent heavy rains in the area. Sources further added that the development seems to be the new strategy adopted by Pakistan for facilitating the infiltration of militants through LoC .
This is not the first instance that such a secret tunnel was detected in forward areas of Jammu region. A couple of years ago, a tunnel dug about 500 meters inside the Indian territory from Pakistan was detected in Chichwal of Hiranagar sector.
A joint team of Geological Survey of India and Border Security Force (BSF) during excavation had found a 540 meters long tunnel dug into the Indian side cutting across Pakistan from the Zero Line on August 8, 2012. A local farmer had detected the tunnel while working in his fields when he saw the land sunk at three straight points.
On August 4, 2009, the Army discovered another one when heavy rains led to caving in of the tunnel along LoC in Pallanwala.
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