6 border districts of Punjab put on high alert, CM Amarinder Singh to camp for 3 days

Punjab has put its six border districts on high alert in the wake of the surgical strike by Indian Air Force (IAF) on Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camps across the Line of Control (LoC). Six districts that have been put on high alert are - Ferozepur, Tarn Taran, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Fazilka. Chief Minister Amarinder Singh chaired a high-level law and order review meeting and ordered a spate of measures to deal with any contingency in view of the attack.

It was concluded in the meeting that there was no need to panic and it was decided against evacuating the border areas, an official spokesperson said. All police chief and Deputy Commissioners have been asked to put in place all contingency plans to ensure the protection and safety of the citizens.

The chief minister has decided to camp in the border areas as part of the confidence-building measure. The chief minister will himself visit the border areas from Pathankot to Ferozepur by road tomorrow where he will stay the night. The next day, he will visit the Tarn Taran region and spend the night at Faridkot. Captain Amarinder will return to Chandigarh on Friday after visiting the border areas of Ferozepur district, his Media Advisor Raveen Thukral said.

The chief minister discussed all aspects of the current situation with the top brass of the police and civil administration, including Personal Secretary Suresh Kumar, Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh, Home Secretary NS Kalsi, DGP Dinkar Gupta, and DGP (Intelligence) VK Bhanwara.

Immediately after the deadly Pulwama attack on a CRPF convoy, Amarinder Singh, a former Army captain, had made it clear that he was in favour of strong retaliatory action and that the Congress would support any action taken by the central government.

"Great job by the #IndianAirForce. The #IAFStrikes have sent the much-needed signal to Pakistan and the terrorists it's harbouring - don't think you can get away with acts like the #PulwamaAttack. Bravo to the #IAF men and my full support for the action," he said in a tweet.

An emotional Amarinder had also said if Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan could not arrest the Jaish chief, who operates from the Pakistani soil, then "we will do it for him".