Punjab fighting new terrorism

Despair is writ large on the faces of widows in Maqboolpura locality of Amritsar as their sorrows seem to be unending. The hub of drug addicts has seen a series of deaths in the past few years bringing gloom to the families.

Fifty-two-year-old Mohinder Kaur has lost all her three sons to drugs even as every evening she has to wait hopelessly for her unemployed husband caught on to drugs.

Septuagenarian Surinder Kaur says, “After my daughter-in-law died, my drug addict son Raju left home never to return, leaving his three children behind. Similarly, my son-in-law fell prey to the drug menace and deserted my daughter who too has three children. Now, my daughter and I work as domestic helps to take care of the children.”

In Amritsar, Maqboolpura is popularly known as the locality of addicts and widows. Lately, Punjab has seen several Maqboolpuras coming up in the state as the number of drug addicts has been rising alarmingly.

In October last year, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had triggered a controversy when he said “seven  out of 10 youth in Punjab have the problem of drugs”. An affidavit submitted by the Punjab government in the high court also says that over 70% of the youth in the state is hooked to drugs.

Officials admit that besides heroin, which is smuggled from Pakistan and which finds a ready market in the state, poppy husk, opium and a large quantity of synthetic drugs have been in circulation in the state. The synthetic drugs, which are used for animals and human beings alike, are available over the counter at chemist shops. “More than drug peddlers, the mushrooming of chemists in rural pockets has become an uncontrollable menace,” said a director in the health department.

During the assembly elections last year when over three lakh capsules and around 3,000 injection vials of narcotic substances were recovered, the then chief election commissioner SY Quraishi had wondered at the extent of drug abuse in Punjab.

Subsequently, 157 qunitals of smack, heroin and opium have been seized in the state in the past one year. However, what has added to the worry of the police is the recent trend of manufacturing of “ice” in the state, which is used in rave parties.

During a raid on a farmhouse in Nawan Shahr district last year, the police seized huge quantities of methamphetamme, a substance known as “ice” in the rave party circles, and pseudophedrine, which is used for manufacturing “ice”. Even in the case of Olympian Vijender Singh, his sparring partner Ram singh, a former Punjab Police head constable, had been found to be dealing in “ice”.

The police investigations, after recovery of 26 kg heroin, have found that the entire gang of drug dealers led by an NRI Anoop Singh Kahlon and his associate Bhola, who has since been absconding, had overseas links. The gang had been sending drug consignments to countries such as Canada and Thailand, the police added.

Additional director general (intelligence) HS Dhillon said the Punjab police is veritably fighting narco-terrorism in the state which is being promoted from across the border.

He said, “Punjab becomes vulnerable because of its proximity to the golden crescent. Being a border state, most of the international drug consignments are being transported through Punjab.”

One of the most serious fall-outs of the rampant use of drugs in Punjab is the steep rise in crime.

Last year, 1,278 incidents of roadside snatching and looting were registered in the state, which the police largely attributed to drug addicts.

@b_ajay65