MATKULA POST (JAURIAN): Seen through the narrow observation slits in the bunkers around the Matkula Post, Pakistan appears like a scene from a nature programme: an sprawl of serene green fields, punctuated only by the occasional peasant or farm animal.

But as audiences across the world today watched Indian and Pakistani diplomats talk peace, troops at the Matkula Post stared out from their bunkers with guns at the ready, watching out for infiltrating terrorists, narcotics smugglers and signs of aggressive intent from their counterparts on the other side of the massive fence that runs the length of the border.

Even as their Governments discuss how to take the India-Pakistan peace process forward, both the Border Security Force and the Pakistan Rangers have been preparing for the possibility that the script for this dialogue might not proceed as everyone hopes. Both sides have used the ceasefire that went into place along the frontier on November 26, 2003 to significantly enhance their border defences.

Mushrooming bunkers

Pakistan has built dozens of new concrete bunkers since the ceasefire, often just metres from the border fence in the Jaurian sector, near Jammu. Two concrete bunkers, for example, now overlook the fence at the BSF's Nikowal Border Observation Post. Should the Pakistan Rangers choose to do so, these bunkers could be used to bring down lethal fire on Indian patrols and counter-infiltration ambushes.

New observation towers, which allow the Pakistan Rangers to closely monitor India's forward positions and troop movements, have also mushroomed throughout the Jaurian sector. Elsewhere in the Jammu region, Pakistani troops have been building new roads and repairing bridges leading to its forward positions — all activities facilitated by the fact that construction workers are no longer being shot at.

Clearing the way

India has responded by starting work on a new earth bund, or dyke, from which border guards will have an unobstructed view of the fence — and also be able to dominate the new Pakistan Rangers bunkers. An old dyke which obstructs the BSF troops' view of the border — built, ironically enough, to protect workers building the fence from Pakistani fire — will soon be levelled, clearing the way for more accurate fire targeting infiltrators.

Simmering tensions

Not surprisingly, simmering tensions underlie the post-ceasefire peace. Last month, the Matkula Post saw the first significant exchange of fire between Indian and Pakistani troops since 2003. Terrorists attempting to cut through the fence shot two BSF troops. BSF soldiers who tried to fight back were pinned down by machine-gun fire from Jang Post, as the Pakistan Rangers covered the retreat of the terrorists.

Again, on January 25, the BSF's 141 Battalion was engaged in a large-scale firefight in the Kanachak area, after at least four separate groups of infiltrators attempted to penetrate the fencing. An unidentified infiltrator, presumed to be a Pakistani national acting as a guide for the groups, was shot dead near the BSF's Alpha-Machel post. As at Matkula, the BSF says, Pakistan Rangers at the Tarankot Post joined the firing to cover the infiltrators' retreat.

Probing defences

Experts believe that such incidents are part of carefully-calibrated probing of Indian counter-infiltration defences. On September 24, 2006, for example, BSF guards shot dead three Pakistani terrorists in the Anoopgarh sector of Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan. An attempt by a Lashkar-e-Taiba suicide-squad to infiltrate through the Amritsar sector in Punjab was also interdicted.

Both soldiers and civilians are praying that the peace talks in New Delhi — not incidents like these — prove to be the images of the future. Villagers, forced to abandon their fields and homes by regular India-Pakistan skirmishes, have resumed their normal lives. Both the BSF and the Pakistan Rangers have seen casualties drop drastically. Seen from the Matkula Post, though, the future seems much less certain than it appears in New Delhi.

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