Drones to arms

PUNJAB Police have busted a terror module involving the use of drones to drop arms in the state. The arms were dropped near Khalra village in Tarn Taran district and were ostensibly meant for terrorists in Punjab and also Kashmir that is currently witnessing a lockdown after the abrogation of Article 370. The police suspect it to be the handiwork of the ISI and the probe has been handed over to the NIA. The use of drones is reminiscent of the case in 1995 in which a Latvian aircraft was used to drop arms at Purulia in West Bengal. With a nearly 550-km-long border with Pakistan, Punjab is a target for terror outfits. The state has known peace now, but attempts have been made to test it, like at Dinanagar in 2015 and Pathankot in 2016. Its border with Jammu and Kashmir makes it an option for terror groups to use it as a launch pad.

 The border, even in Punjab, is a difficult terrain, especially the riverine area. While the Indian side has lights and Cobra fencing through which electricity currents pass after sunset, no such arrangement is visible on the Pakistan side, dotted with tall elephant grass, a cover used to smuggle in drugs and other contraband. The rivers swollen because of floods make surveillance difficult. At many places, farming is done till the last inch, and checking infiltration can be tough. The seizure was preceded by reports saying that Pakistan had reactivated the Balakot terror facility, the Army Chief confirming it a day later in Chennai, and US President Donald Trump warning of Islamist terror in his meeting with PM Modi in Houston. All this goes on even as India and Pakistan prepare for opening the Kartarpur corridor.  

A border state, Punjab has known the pain of Partition and the insurgency. That it lost a CM along with tens of thousands of others is the sacrifice it made to bring back peace without which there can be no progress. The Punjab Police should be complimented for nipping trouble in the bud.