New Delhi, Dec 07: With Indo-Pak ceasefire holding firm, army has stepped up the pace of border fencing all along the Line of Control and the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir and was hopeful of completing the task by October 2004. Top officers at the Army Headquarters here said that fencing would be completed in the 496 kilometre vulnerable stretch of 776 km long LoC, from Chickenneck area near Jammu to just short of Gurez sector in the Kashmir valley by October 2004 "if the lull continues as at present”.
The officials said that the sector between Gurez to Drass in Kargil would take some more time since the area is cut off for six months due to heavy snowfall.
With a letup in cross-border shelling, Army, which had earlier employed its own 3,000 engineer troops for LoC fencing, has now tripled the workforce by drafting in civilian workers. Bureau Report