CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Tuesday asked Union Home Minister Amit Shah to urgently provide 25 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and anti-drone gadgets for the Border Security Force (BSF) for protection from Pak-backed terror forces.
The CM said the potential targets are farmers, RSS, BJP, Shiv Sena, and other leaders. Citing the recent heavy influx of weapons, hand-grenades, and IEDs into the state, with Pakistan’s ISI also raising the ante ahead of the Independence Day and in the run-up to the Punjab Assembly polls, Amarinder told Shah at a meeting here this evening that the security situation was grave and needed the Centre’s immediate intervention.
He sought from the Union Home Minister CAPF deployment for Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Mohali, Patiala, Bathinda, Phagwara, and Moga, as well as anti-drone technology for the BSF deployed at the borders. He pointed to the potential threat to the security of vital infrastructure, installations and public meetings being attended by highly threatened individuals.
Citing inputs from central and state agencies, corroborated by disclosures made by arrested terrorists, Amarinder said potential individual and mass indiscriminate targets include trains, buses and temples, prominent farmer leaders (specific inputs about five such farmer leaders had been received but they had refused to take security offered by Punjab and Haryana police), RSS Shakhas, Offices, RSS, BJP, Shiv Sena leaders based in Punjab, Deras, Nirankari Bhawans and Samagams.
Amarinder told Shah that between July 4 and August 8, 2021, foreign-based pro-Khalistani entities, working in close collaboration with the ISI, had managed to induct over 30 pistols, one MP4 Rifle, one AK-47 Rifle, around 35 hand-grenades, sophisticated laboratory-made tiffin bombs, over 6 Kg RDX and assorted hardware for fabrication of IEDs (9 detonators, 1 multiple timer device and fuse-wire).
He further informed the Union Home Minister that in the last 35 days, more than 17 deliveries of weapons, hand-grenades, explosives, and assorted IED fabrication hardware had come to the notice of the Punjab Police and the central agencies, which meant that consignments of weapons, hand-grenades, IEDs were delivered to Punjab based terror operatives on every second day in July with the trend continuing in August.