India is considering building deep tunnels along its borders with China and Pakistan in Indian-administered Kashmir to protect its troops from nuclear, chemical and biological attacks, officials said. “The Northern Command has mooted a proposal and the same will be discussed at army commanders' meeting in New Delhi today”, defense spokesman Col. D. K. Kachari said on Monday. Relations between India and its two nuclear-armed neighbours have improved in recent years, although serious differences remain over their vast Himalayan borders. The written proposal says, “the use of tunnels would help in evading enemy satellites from gauging the exact troop strength and their position in the forward areas”. Another Indian army official, who wished not to be named, said China had already started a large scale tunnel project on the border between India and China's Tibetan region. Both India and Pakistan claim Kashmir in full but rule in parts. Border disputes have plagued relations between India and China for decades, and led to a war in 1962, but both sides are forging new ties amid soaring trade and business links.
