Terror alert in Punjab

TERROR groups working in tandem with gangsters, mostly based abroad, are keeping Punjab Police personnel on their toes. These are dangerous portents for a state that remained in the throes of militancy for a decade and is yet to fully recover from that prolonged nightmare. The targeting of police stations or posts in Majha, which is vulnerable to cross-border smuggling of guns, explosives and drugs, is a brazen attempt to dent the morale of law enforcement agencies and fuel tensions in the state. According to the police top brass, this is the handiwork of pro-Khalistan groups backed by the usual suspect — Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence. Handlers based in Germany and other Western countries are also in the thick of things, going by the recent arrest of three members of the Khalistan Zindabad Force terror module and the busting of an inter-state gun racket.

Two decades after rooting out militancy from the state, the Punjab Police had been jolted out of complacency in July 2015 when terrorists from Pakistan stormed Dinanagar police station in Gurdaspur district. Barely five months later, the Pathankot airbase was attacked. The two incidents taught the police a harsh lesson — there is no room for laxity when anti-India elements are hell-bent on creating trouble. The latest surge in terror activities is another wake-up call – it should spur the state’s cops to be more vigilant and work in closer coordination with Central organisations such as the Border Security Force and the National Investigation Agency.

The recent attempt on the life of former Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal outside the Golden Temple is a stark reminder that violent extremism is not yet dead and buried in Punjab. The embers of radicalism are still glowing, with efforts afoot to resurrect the bogie of Khalistan. The onus is on the police to enforce the rule of law and reassure the people about their safety and security.