DW BUREAU / Chandigarh The Punjab government took strong exception on Wednesday to the Centre's reported move of empowering the BSF to carry out searches and make arrests up to an area of 50 km from the international border, dubbing it as an "attack on federalism". Some reports suggest that the Centre has empowered the Border Security Force (BSF) to conduct searches, arrest suspects and make seizures up to an area of 50 km inside the Indian territory from the international border. Earlier, the BSF was only empowered to take action up to 15 km inside Punjab. Several political party leaders have questioned the intent of the BJP-led Centre behind the move. "I strongly condemn the GoI's unilateral decision to give additional powers to BSF within 50 KM belt running along the international borders, which is a direct attack on the federalism. I urge the Union Home Minister @AmitShah to immediately rollback this irrational decision," Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi tweeted. However, former chief minister Amarinder Singh came out in support of the move, saying, "BSF's enhanced presence & powers will only make us stronger. Let's not drag central armed forces into politics." Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa condemned the decision and urged the Centre to withdraw it. "I urge the prime minister and the home minister to withdraw the move. I do not understand what is in the mind of the government. It is an interference and an attack on our rights," he told reporters. Rather than addressing the issue of drones coming from across the border, the Centre has decided to allow the BSF to take action 50 km inside the border, Randhawa said. "I feel the Centre has doubts on our nationality. I want to say that Punjabis are patriots and love the country," he added. Later, in a statement, Randhawa slammed the Centre for a recent amendment in Section 139 of the BSF Act, saying it is tantamount to an "attack on federalism". "This illogical decision was absolutely against the spirit of the raising of border-guarding forces, which are required to focus on the international border and act as the first line of defence," he said. The Congress leader said policing is not the role of a border-guarding force, rather it will weaken the capacity of the BSF in discharging its primary duty of guarding the international border. Highlighting the need for excellent cooperation between central and state agencies, he said such coordination must be enhanced with information sharing for taking prompt action to resist illegal activities. He further said joint operations against drugs and terrorist modules were successfully conducted by the BSF and the Punjab Police in the past, besides mechanisms for information sharing and coordination are already in place. There are no justifiable reasons for unilaterally changing the existing arrangements by the Centre, except to weaken the state government and the spirit of federalism, Randhawa said. (editor@dailyworld.in)