BSF investigates blasts near Attari border

September 11th, 2009 AMRITSAR - Border Security Force (BSF) troopers fired from machine-guns into Pakistan after rockets were fired into Indian territory in the Amritsar sector from across the border Friday night. BSF officials Saturday morning launched an operation to find if any more rockets were fired into the Indian side near the Attari joint check post from across the barbed-wire fencing border between both countries.

September 11th, 2009 LAHORE/AMRITSAR - Tension prevailed at the Pakistan-India border after loud explosions were heard on the Indian side near the Attari-Wagah check post. However, Pakistan denied Saturday that its forces were responsible for the blasts.

September 9th, 2009 DAOKE - Hundreds of farmers in several villages along the India-Pakistan border in Punjab's Attari sector claim that they have not received compensation for the land acquired by government to set-up a patrolling strip along the zero line that divides both the countries. Farmers said that the government has paid them for the land acquired, but compensation has never been paid.

August 15th, 2009 ATTARI BORDER - In what has become an annual ritual at the Attari-Wagah international border between India and Pakistan, peace activists from both sides assembled at the check post here Friday midnight to light candles and pledge for better relations between both sides. The peaceniks, led by veteran Indian journalist Kuldip Nayar, walked up to the border gate on the Indian side, 30 km from Amritsar city, and lit candles there.

August 5th, 2009 AMRITSAR - Punjab Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla Wednesday tied colourful rakhis on the wrists of Border Security Force (BSF) personnel posted at the Attari border and celebrated with them the festival of Raksha Bandhan, marking the bond of love between siblings. Chawla, who represents Amritsar constituency in the state assembly, also stopped at an army station some five kilometres from the Attari check-post and tied rakhis to some army officials there.

July 5th, 2009 ATTARI - The possibility of Pakistan-based terror groups being behind a 'rocket' attack Saturday night near an Indian village is not being ruled out by Indian security officials. The Border Security Force (BSF), Indias para-military force that guards the 553-km fenced border between India and Pakistan in Punjab, is Sunday investigating two blasts that occurred near Dande village Saturday night.

July 5th, 2009 DHANDE VILLAGE - Two rocket shells were fired from across the border into Punjab's Dhande village on Saturday night. The rocket shells fell in the paddy fields of the village, located near the Pakistan border.

April 3rd, 2009 AMRITSAR - Pakistani security authorities Friday allowed the Amritsar-Lahore-Nankana Sahib peace bus between the two countries to enter its territory, but the bus did not have any passengers. Border Security Force (BSF) officials at the Attari border, 30 km from here, said that the bus was allowed to cross the international border gates with only its crew on board.

April 2nd, 2009 AMRITSAR - Uncertainty prevails over the India-Pakistan peace bus being allowed to enter Pakistani territory Friday by authorities in that country in the wake of the recent terrorist strikes near Lahore. The Amritsar-Lahore 'Punjab-Aab' bus will leave this city for its journey till Lahore city in Pakistan, 55 km from here, Friday.

March 4th, 2009 AMRITSAR - The Border Security Force (BSF) early Wednesday foiled an attempt by Pakistani intruders to smuggle heroin into India, killing one of them in a gunbattle in the Amritsar sector of the international border, an official said. While two smugglers managed to escape, one was killed in the gunbattle at Mahwa post near Attari and was being identified, BSF's Punjab Frontier Deputy Inspector General Jagir Singh told IANS.

February 21st, 2009 AMRITSAR - A Pakistani driver and a guard of a goods train that arrived at the Attari border railway station in India from Pakistan Friday were questioned by customs officials following the recovery of a large quantity of poppy seeds from the train's engine. The driver, Mohammed Ali, and a guard of the train were questioned by the customs and security officials after the goods train arrived at Attari, 30 km from here.

February 5th, 2009 AMRITSAR - India's Border Security Force (BSF) Friday arrested a Chinese national from the Attari land border check post for trying to cross into Pakistan from India without valid travel documents. The BSF handed over the man, identified as Alimu, to the Punjab police.

January 29th, 2009 AMRITSAR - A round-the-globe peace tour by a Swiss couple has hit a roadblock at the Attari border - thanks to Indian laws that do not allow their ponies into the country without special permission. The globetrotters, Matthias and Celina from Switzerland, are stuck at the India-Pakistan joint border checkpost at Attari, 30 km from here, as customs officials are not allowing their ponies to be let into India without formal sanction.

January 26th, 2009 AMRITSAR - Nearly 14 kg of heroin worth Rs.140 million was seized from three people, including two women, at the Attari railway station Tuesday, a customs official said. The three people, from Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, have been arrested.

December 27th, 2008 AMRITSAR - Very few passengers from India are boarding the bus service from here to Lahore and Nankana Sahib in Pakistan and the numbers are likely to go down further with the Ministry of External Affairs issuing a travel advisory asking Indians not to travel to Pakistan. Started in 2006, the Amritsar-Lahore and Amritsar-Nankana Sahib (the birthplace of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev) bus services have never been a big hit with people due to the lack of a facility for obtaining Pakistani visas from here.