India-Pakistan border brightly lit up - as seen from space

The bright orange line in the photo below is the India-Pakistan border as seen from the International Space Station on 21st August 2011.

The orange colour comes from floodlights that were installed to illuminate the border.

In 2003, the Indian government decided to install them in the Gujarat sector to prevent smuggling and arms trafficking.

At the moment the floodlights runs for 1,861km. The Indian government want it to cover 2,000+ km by March 2012.

You can also see cities - those bright clusters hundreds of miles apart:
- Lahore, Pakistan is nearest to the orange border line.
- Islamabad, Pakistan can also be seen towards the bottom of the picture
- New Delhi, India can be seen at the top.