Punjab on maximum alert, villages near Pakistan border are being evacuated; additional BSF troops move in

These developments of evacuations and troop movements are extremely important because of surgical strikes.

New Delhi: In a major development in the wake of surgical strikes, villages in Punjab which are 10 KM from International Border with Pakistan are being evacuated, latest reports said.

Also, additional troops of Border Security Force (BSF) have moved in.

These developments of evacuations and troop movements are extremely important as they come on the heels of surgical strikes in Pakistan's territory by Indian Army to kill Pakistan-trained terrorists.

"Punjab is in a state of maximum alert," Harcharan Bains, the advisor to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, said here.

He said appropriate steps were being taken to ensure the safety of people in the border areas with Pakistan.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has called a meeting in this regard later on Thursday.

Bains said the state cabinet would meet on Thursday evening, to be chaired by Badal, to take stock of the situation and take appropriate action.

The Punjab government has ordered the evacuation of villages in a 10-km belt along the border with Pakistan following the surgical strikes by the Indian Army across the Line of Control.

The BSF has cancelled the Retreat ceremony at the Attari-Wagah border joint check-post (JCP) at Attari, 30 km from Amritsar, officials said.

The union Home Ministry on Thursday directed the Punjab government to get the border villages evacuated.

Local authorities used loudspeakers of gurdwaras to announce to residents in the border villages to leave their homes and villages and move to safer zones.

All schools and other institutions in the border belt have been ordered shut. All leave of Punjab Police and medical personnel in the border areas has been cancelled.

Punjab's border districts include Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur, Faridkot, Abohar and Fazilka.

Informed sources said the Border Security Force (BSF) was mobilizing its troops and strengthening the security along the border.

Punjab shares a 553-km border with Pakistan that is manned by the para-military Border Security Force (BSF).

Being a frontier state, Punjab has seen most action in both the wars with Pakistan in 1965 and 1971.