India has decided to completely seal its winding border with Pakistan by December 2018, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday. The minister said the situation on the border would be continuously monitored. Rajnath Singh said a new concept, “Border Security Grid”, would be put in place after taking inputs from all border states. “Tension between India and Pakistan has increased, countrymen should trust security forces and stand by them,” said Singh.

When asked about Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Dalali’ remark for PM Modi in relation to the surgical strikes, Singh declined to comment. Instead, he said, “People, working in any field, must show restraint at time of escalated tensions.”

Rajnath Singh visited border outposts in Jaisalmer and Barmer and interacted with BSF jawans. The decision comes in the wake of rising India-Pakistan tension after the September 18 attack on a military base in Jammu and Kashmir and the later surgical strikes on terror launch pads across the Line of Control.