ISI behind grenadeattacks: DGP Yadav

Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav on Monday accused Pakistan’s spy agency ISI of engineering grenade attacks in the state to deflect attention from the campaign against the drug menace and said the police would “teach it a lesson”.

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“We will not let it happen,” he added promising tough action against terrorists and gangsters involved in a string of grenade blast in Punjab in recent months.

Yadav told reporters that the campaign against drugs had forced drug couriers and smugglers to retreat, with many refusing to pick consignments dropped by Pakistan-based operatives, which led to a sharp decline in the supply of heroin from across the border.

‘Rattled by anti-drug drive’

“Intelligence inputs have also indicated that the campaign’s success has rattled Pakistan’s ISI, which is now devising strategies to destabilise Punjab to disrupt this ongoing drive against drugs,” he said.

“The Punjab Police will not allow the ISI to destabilise the border state and will ensure exemplary punishment to anyone trying to disturb the peace and harmony of the state,” he said.

Yadav said the police had been targeting actual drug peddler and smugglers while drug victims were not being harassed unnecessarily and being admitted to de-addiction centres for treatment.

The DGP said to make policing more effective, the tenure of a “munshi” of a police station would be limited to two years maximum at one police station. The DGP did not specify the reason for limiting the tenure.

Police sources said this was done to prevent chances of corruption.

Probe ‘grenade brigade’: Chugh

BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh on Monday demanded an investigation by a central agency into the series of grenade blasts in Punjab during recent times.

He said it was unfortunate that a new “grenade brigade” had emerged under the AAP government to challenge the law and order situation in the border state. “It’s only in Punjab that grenades are being hurled around,” he said.

Chugh said, “In the latest incident in Patiala, some police personnel brutally assaulted senior Army officer Pushpinder Singh Bath and his son Angad Singh. This case is yet another example of the deteriorating security situation in the state.”