Takingserious note of the perceptible increase in drone movement from across theborder since the farmers’ protests started gathering heat in October 2020,Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday declared that “aslong as I am here, no Khalistani or Pakistani or any other terrorist activitywill be allowed to disturb the peace of the state.”
Termingthe national security threat perception real, the Chief Minister said he hadmet Union Home Minister Amit Shah amid the farmers’ agitation to discuss thisgrave issue and to ask him why central forces could not be provided adequateequipment to locate and shoot down the drones.
Currently,the Khalistani cells in Punjab were dormant but they were being fed withweapons via the drones to activate them to create trouble, said CaptainAmarinder, vowing to break the back of this movement.
Anybreach of the Punjab border was a breach of national security, said CaptainAmarinder while interacting with media on the completion of four years of hisgovernment. While a large number of weapons had been seized near the borders,what was the cause of worry was those which had not been caught, he said,adding “I am worried about where those are.”
Givingdetails of the arrests and seizures since his government took over in March2017, the Chief Minister said as many as 333 modules of terrorists andgangsters had been busted while 3472 militants/gangsters had been arrested. Tendrones had been picked up, in addition to 2000-odd weapons (including rifles,revolvers, pistols etc), hand grenades, RDX and other explosives, walkietalkies and satellite phones. As many as 11000 rounds of ammunition had alsobeen seized, he said. These are not small numbers for a small state likePunjab, he added.