Pakistan’s use of J&K-Punjab link sets off alarm.

Pakistan constantly changes its proxy and hybrid war strategy in Kashmir with an aim to bleed India with a thousand cuts. Ingenious cross-border smuggling of drugs and weapons has been an established ISI narco-terror model since long. A new, and alarming, dimension has been added with the Punjab Police stumbling upon the inter-state links of Riyaz Naikoo, the Kashmir chief of terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen who was gunned down last week. The involvement of wanted gangsters, drug smugglers and radical elements points to the scale of the operation being run in Punjab to fuel terror activities in the Valley. In January, drone recovery along the Punjab border had created ripples in the security establishment.

Pushing narcotics and drug money into J&K and Punjab, experts stress, is not only aimed at financing terrorism, but also to encourage addiction. A former chief of J&K Police had remarked not so long ago on how drug menace was a bigger challenge than terrorism in the state. Contraband, he said, was being ‘pumped in from across the border by people who want our future generations to be addicted to drugs so that they can succeed in their nefarious ploys’. The huge drug seizures in the recent past along the Punjab border bear testimony to what some may consider an alarmist view.

Narcotics are considered the foundation of organised crime worldwide. No other commodity, it is felt, can generate the kind of money to challenge the might of the State. The Valley being added to the notorious drug smuggling route has been red-flagged for a long time. It’s the profile of the operatives and their reach that has come as a surprise. The Pak deep state banking on crime networks, with an enticing money-making cocktail of drugs and sophisticated weapons on offer from across the border, poses a serious problem. Punjab has managed to break the deadly chain and a string of revelations has emerged. The mission is expected to be long-drawn.

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Courtesy: The Tribune: 12th May, 2020