CHANDIGARH: With Independence Day 2026 less than three weeks away, the Punjab Police has stepped up security measures across the state after receiving fresh intelligence inputs indicating that Pakistan's ISI and affiliated terror groups are planning to trigger disturbances.
The inputs suggest that pro-Khalistan terrorist modules, mainly linked to the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), along with transnational organised criminal networks operating from abroad, are likely to attempt terror attacks involving weapons, espionage and drone activity.
Sources claimed that the latest intelligence inputs indicated a possible significant increase in attacks as part of the ISI's strategy, which has allegedly sought to destabilise the law and order situation in the state and vitiate communal harmony for over a decade.
The intelligence inputs suggested that the ISI had recalibrated and intensified its efforts after Operation Sindoor in May this year.
Pro-Khalistan terrorist organisations such as the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), besides transnational organised criminal networks operating from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France, Portugal, Malaysia and other countries, were reportedly being used to push militant hardware into Punjab to foment terror attacks, the fresh intelligence inputs suggested.
Officials, on condition of anonymity, said, “The ISI was planning a series of attacks through its own operatives as well as under the cover of pseudo pro-Khalistani groups, a move aimed at ensuring deniability of its direct involvement.”
It is learnt that an internal assessment based on these inputs noted that the range of weapons being pushed into the state had expanded beyond RDX based tiffin IEDs, hand grenades, sophisticated automatic weapons and small firearms.
“Newly designed remote-controlled RDX-based prefabricated IEDs and petrol bombs, low grade, easy to fabricate and equally effective for terror objectives, had also entered this mix,” it added.
Sources claimed that the threat had also expanded to include random targeting of police personnel, railway infrastructure and other critical infrastructure.
The threat was not limited to police, CAPF and defence establishments, but also included serving and retired Punjab Police personnel linked to counter terror operations, as well as offices and leaders of right wing parties.
This year, 10 terror modules were busted by the state police through intelligence led operations and sustained investigations.
As many as 137 people were arrested, while seven automatic rifles, 76 revolvers and pistols, 12 RDX-based prefabricated IEDs, 3.756 kg of RDX, nine detonators, 49 hand grenades, one RPG with launcher and seven walkie talkie sets were recovered.
During the same period, six cases of tech based espionage were detected and busted, involving the installation of solar powered CCTV cameras that were allegedly transmitting live visuals to handlers in Pakistan. The Punjab Police also recovered 183 drones during this period.
