NEW DELHI (AFP): India's interior minister has ordered the demolition of illegal buildings within 15 kilometres (nine miles) of the border with arch-enemy Pakistan, his office confirmed.
Home Minister Amit Shah is known for his hardline stance on national security, illegal migration and transnational crimes.
"Amit Shah stressed the need for strict enforcement of a zero-tolerance policy against illegal constructions, particularly within 0-15 kilometres of the international border," the home affairs ministry said in a statement.
"He directed the concerned authorities to demolish all such unauthorised constructions."
India's frontier with Pakistan, including the de facto border through the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir, stretches for 3,300 kilometres (2,050 miles).
Shah urged officials to boost efforts "to effectively address infiltration, narcotics smuggling, encroachment, terror financing, and other trans-border crimes", according to the statement.
New Delhi has blamed Islamabad of aiding narcotics and weapons smuggling into India, and has spent heavily reinforcing its highly-patrolled borders.
Shah issued the order while in the western state of Rajasthan, which borders Pakistan.
India and Pakistan accuse each other of backing proxy forces, and each side fiercely rejects the claims of the other.
India also accuses Pakistan of aiding Islamist militants cross into Indian-administered Kashmir. Pakistan denies the charges.
Relations between nuclear-armed neighbours plummeted last year after an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir killed 26 men, mostly Hindu tourists, leading to their worst conflict in decades.
India blamed Pakistan for backing the attack -- a charge Islamabad denied -- triggering tit-for-tat diplomatic measures and a sharp military escalation that included airstrikes, drone swarms and heavy mortar fire.
More than 70 people were killed on both sides. -- AFP
