Chandigarh, October 31
The other day when a young man in Khanpur village in Ludhiana strangled his mother for refusing to give him money for buying drugs, it only indicated the extent to which an addict can go to get his or her routine dose.

It was not an isolated incident but symbolic of a grave malaise — “cash for (drugs) bash” — that is virtually afflicting every other household in Punjab. Recent studies suggest that 70 per cent of the state is in the grip of drugs.

Intriguingly, neither the previous Congress government nor the present SAD-BJP government have done anything to check this highly remunerative and innovative drug trade from spreading its tentacles to areas that have managed to stay free of it so far.

More than three years ago, The Tribune carried a series of investigative reports on the unchecked growth of the drug trade that was threatening to outgrow the annual Budget of the state. And if the seizure of drugs, especially heroin, during the past few months is any indication, the volume of financial transactions of the contraband may already have surpassed the Budget estimates finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal would present in the Punjab Assembly in March next year.

Though the provocation for the 2005 Tribune investigation was a challenge thrown by the then Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to the top hierarchy of the police to name a single village free of the menace, it is now clandestine operations, including the sacrilegious concealing of drugs in packs of holy scriptures, that is making social scientists sit up and take note of the gravity of the situation. Hence, the follow-up.

Although Shamsher Singh Dullo as president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee and the Bharti Kisan Union also made public announcements to launch anti-drug campaigns and movements, nothing has been done in this regard so far.

In 1999, when the tercentenary celebrations took place, huge banners, hoardings and posters were put up in almost all historic towns and gurdwaras urging people to shun drugs. The then Jathedar of Takht Kesgarh Sahib, Bhai Manjit Singh, also started a de-addiction centre in Anandpur Sahib. Such campaigns subsequently continued at places of worship, but without any tangible results. The failure was blamed obviously on police inaction. Yesterday, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal also utilised the tercentenary of Gurta Gaddi Divas at Hazur Sahib to give a clarion call to fight the evil. A stern warning to the police that action would be taken against those officers from whose areas cases of drug peddling are reported is what is expected from the president of the major partner of the ruling alliance.

In less than six weeks, four major heroin consignments being smuggled to North America have been detected in and around Amritsar. One of these was in packs of compact discs of holy scriptures that had neatly wrapped and concealed packs of costly drugs. Though the strong chain of drug carriers, runners, retailers and wholesalers has with the alleged support of the state agencies, survived all attempts to check or wipe out the trade, it is now getting bolstered by overseas support from a growing clan of NRI smugglers.

The recent seizures at Raja Sansi International Airport and in border districts, including Ferozepore, corroborate the theory that the drug trade is becoming voluminous because of an increase in demand from overseas consumers.

The alarming increase in the number of Punjabi youths getting killed in armed conflicts in Canada is worrying the overseas Indian community. This is attributed to wars over the control of the drug trade. In British Columbia and Ontario, two of the Canadian provinces that have the largest population of immigrants from Punjab, the number of such fatalities has been growing over the years.

In the just- concluded election to the 40th House of Commons in Canada, some of candidates of Punjabi origin belonging to the Liberals and the Conservatives had promised stringent laws to check the drug trade. “To save our youth from being gunned down or stabbed in open bloody brawls on the streets of British Columbia or Ontario, we have to have some stricter and stringent laws and controls,” adds one of the legislators of British Columbia that has witnessed more than 50 killings of Punjabi youth in the past five years. The media in general and the Punjabi media in particular there has been voicing its concern over the damage the drug peddlers are doing to the community.

One of the reports suggests that those deeply involved in the trade get “VIP treatment” on their visits to Punjab where they organise kabaddi matches, offer lucrative cash prizes to players and winning teams and make a shameless display of their wealth at entertainment hubs. In fact, when some of those living beyond their known sources of income visit Punjab, they are provided not only with bodyguards but also escort vehicles by some police officers in the state. Fearing retaliation, the demand for a thorough probe into the links of these “handful of NRIs allegedly linked to the drugs mafia” with police officers has seldom been made publicly.

(To be concluded)