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India
Installs Israeli Gadgets on Kashmir Borders
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Indian army on Pakistan borders. |
By
IOL South Asia Correspondent
NEW
DELHI, July 9 (IslamOnline) - Israel-made thermal imagers have been
installed to check infiltration into Kashmir, according to officials
Tuesday. Only a day earlier India cancelled a crucial arms order
already placed with an Israeli firm.
The
Israeli thermal imaging detectors are precursor of an array of other
military imports from Israel and the U.S. soon to be deployed on the
Line of Control (LoC), reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Officials
in Jammu said Israeli imagers were deployed after extensive tests
conducted with the gadgets in Kashmir's frontier districts of Poonch,
Rajouri, Nowshera, RS Pura, Akhnoor, Uri, Kupwara and in Kargil and
Drass which all witness frequent exchanges of shelling with Pakistan
as well as infiltration from across the border.
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Indian army on the Line of Control in Kashmir. |
Each
apparatus is said to cost nearly $42,000 and can track body heat
emissions, experts said. "The equipment is so sensitive that it
clearly differentiates between human beings and animals," a
military expert said, adding that the sensors have a range of up to
five kms. "This is successful equipment to stop infiltration from
across the border and recently the army killed six Pakistani militants
on the basis of data from the thermal imagers," the source said.
A
Defense Ministry spokesman in New Delhi said that the imagers were
deployed at "sporadic" places along the 440-km LoC. The
Defense Ministry has, however, said other imported electronic sensors
are unlikely to be in place before elections in the disputed state in
September/October this year. A proposal to deploy ground sensors to
track infiltration into Kashmir by militants was made by U.S. Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld during his visit to New Delhi on June 12,
reported AFP.
Only
three weeks ago Indian media reported that New Delhi is looking for
"U.S. made" sensors to detect infiltration because the ones
the Israelis supplied with great fanfare simply don't work. Media here
reported at the time that Israeli-made sensors lie embedded, abandoned
and dysfunctional, along several stretches on the Indo-Pak border.
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Indian missile positions on the borders with Pakistan. |
In
another important development, India is reported to have cancelled
this week a Rs 4500 million order for 155-M guns placed with Israel's
Soltam Company. A United News of India (UNI) report not carried by the
mainstream media here, said that there were technical problems with
the Israeli guns but the immediate reason seems to be that Indian arms
manufacturers at the Gun Carriage Factory in Jabalpur were able to
produce this gun indigenously. The Indian guns have already been
supplied to the army for experiments. The range of these guns is 36-40
kms.
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