India revokes decision to evacuate border villages after 'surgical strike'

The Modi government ordered evacuation in about 1,000 villages inside the Indo-Pak border, fearing 'reaction'

The Indian government revoked on Saturday its order to evacuate several villages along the Pakistan-India border, emptied in the wake of so-called 'surgical strike' across the Line of Control (LoC).

Indian Punjab's Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said that the decision was taken on Friday after a meeting chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh to review the border situation, NDTV reported.

On September 30, the Modi government had ordered evacuation in about 1,000 villages of Punjab districts, some 10 kilometres inside the border with Pakistan, a day after it claimed to have carried surgical strikes along the de-facto frontier in held Kashmir.



The meeting was informed that all concerned districts had been asked to ensure smooth repatriation of the people affected by the move.

On October 7, Singh had announced that Pakistan-India border would be completely sealed by December 2018, saying they were readying an action plan to soon place a border security grid.

However, Congressman Amarinder Singh had termed the proposal "nonsensical". According to him, the directives were "nothing more than sheer rhetoric since the Indo-Pak border in Punjab was already adequately sealed with two-tier fencing and a flood-lit concrete area between the two fences".



The claim of 'surgical strike' had escalated tensions between the two neighbours with Islamabad vehemently denying the claim, saying that two of its soldiers had been killed following Indian firing in at least three sectors along LoC.

On September 18, 18 Indian troops were killed in an attack on a military base in Sri Nagar near the LoC. Indian blamed the attack on Pakistan, a charge the latter denied categorically.

Tension was already rising between the two arch rivals since the July 8 killing of Kashmiri leader Burhan Wani, followed by deaths of at least 100 demonstrators at the hands of Indian forces.