Rajnath Singh : Use intel to guard open borders

Asking border guarding agencies to bolster their snooping capabilities, home minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said the troops of border guarding force SSB must sharpen their snooping skills and ensure that terrorist groups are not able to “gather” or carry out their nefarious anti-India designs along borders with Nepal and Bhutan.

Addressing officers and jawans of Sashastra Seema Bal at the forces’ camp here on the occasion of their 52nd Raising Day, he said a robust and sharp intelligence system is the “most important weapon” along these sensitive two borders which are open and not fenced, keeping in view India’s friendly relations with them.

He further said the SSB troops have to exercise “special caution,” considering there is much movement of people along the open frontiers and India has friendly relations with the two neighbours.

“I have a firm belief that being a border guarding force, you will be successful in stopping any type of anti-national and criminal activity along Nepal and Bhutan borders. You have had a speciality, that is your intelligence system. Based on your experiences and good work, you will have to make it (snoop capabilities) better so that this system is able to render a more important role in the near future.”

“I believe that along the sensitive and open Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan borders, intelligence is the most important weapon for crime control. This force has to render exceptional service to not only render its new tasks but also keep in mind its duties it did before 2001,” he said, asking the force to smartly bolster its snooping skills in the task of border guarding.

The home minister said the paramilitary has to take special care and use its snoop machinery to check “unwanted activities on these two borders so that anti-social elements and terrorist groups are not able to gather there and are not able to carry out any untoward incident” against India.