India has not conveyed its plan to seal border by 2018, says Pakistan

Pakistan has said that the Indian move to completely seal the 3,323-km-long border between the two countries by December 2018 would be “contrary” to the Indian position of establishing a peaceful neighbourhood.

Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria said the announcement by Home Minister Rajnath Singh earlier this month that India will “completely seal” the border with Pakistan by December 2018 was contradictory to the Indian stand of establishing a peaceful neighbourhood.

“On the one hand, they talk of establishing peaceful neighbourhood, and on the other hand their actions contradict their claims,” he said in response to a question.

Zakaria, however, said India has not yet officially communicated to Pakistan about the decision.

“India has not formally conveyed any such plan (sealing the border) to Pakistan. We don’t have the details,” he said.

Rajnath Singh had said India was planning to seal the entire border with Pakistan by December 2018 and that a proper monitoring mechanism, including the use of technology, would be in place for the purpose.

His announcement had come after he reviewed the security situation along the border with ministers from four states - Rajasthan, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, and Gujarat - that share border with Pakistan.

The announcement was also significant as it came in the wake of increasing tension between India and Pakistan after surgical strikes by army on terror camps across the Line of Control in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on September 28.

The surgical strikes were in response to an attack on an Indian army base in Uri on September 18 in which Pakistan-backed terrorists killed 19 Indian soldiers.