Punjab police playing host to Pakistani ’spy pigeon’

AMRITSAR - Police in Punjab’s Amritsar district, bordering Pakistan, are playing hosts to a pigeon, suspected to have come from the neighbouring country on a “secret mission”.

According to police, the pigeon is kept in an air-conditioned room in Ramdas village, around 35 km from Amritsar and around 275 km from Chandigarh, and police are continuously monitoring its condition.

“Harbans Lal Saini, who lives in the village, saw this white pigeon sitting on the roof of his house yesterday (Thursday). As normally they do not see pigeons very frequently in this area, he suspected something, caught the bird and brought it to the police station,” Jagjit Singh Chahal, station house officer of Ramdas police station, told IANS Friday.

According to the police officer, “preliminary investigations suggested it had come from Pakistan”.

“We found a Pakistani phone number and address scribbled on the body of the pigeon. We also found a rubber ring, which was probably used to carry some message written on a paper, around its feet. We immediately informed our seniors about this,” he said.

After last month’s incident in which two policemen and two Pakistan-based militants were killed in a fierce gun battle near the India-Pakistan border in Gurdaspur district, Punjab police issued special instructions for the residents of border villages to keep extra vigil and to immediately contact police if they find anything suspicious.

Chahal said officials of state animal husbandry department had conducted medical examination of the bird and found it to be in good health. “Police are keeping a continuous watch on this bird and we are not allowing anybody to go near it,” he said, adding senior officials were being informed thrice a day about its health.