Punjab Governor Banwari Lal Purohit (Image: IANS/File Photo)
The Governor has been visiting the border areas of the state since Wednesday to take stock of the security situation and the anti-drug operations conducted by the central forces
Continuing his visits to the border districts of the state and assessing the drug menace, Punjab Governor Banwari Lal Purohit expressed support on Thursday for a “surgical strike” against Pakistan, aiming to “teach it a lesson” in response to its alleged “hidden war against India.”
The Governor has been visiting the border areas of the state since Wednesday to take stock of the security situation and the anti-drug operations conducted by the central forces.
Accusing the neighbouring country of smuggling drugs into Indian territory, he expressed his personal opinion that a surgical strike should be conducted to teach Pakistan a lesson for its alleged involvement in a “hidden war” against India. According to him, Pakistan resorts to such tactics due to its inability to directly confront India.
The Governor further called on the need to enhance border security and address the ongoing challenges of infiltration and drug smuggling. He proposed the formation of Village Defence Committees (VDC) within a 10 km radius of villages bordering the India-Pakistan International Borders (IB) with an aim to support security agencies in combating the drug menace across six border districts.
He said his fourth official visit to the border villages was aimed to evaluate existing security measures, understand the evolving threats and boost the morale of the local residents.
“My motive was to meet with state and central agencies to gather feedback and improve the interaction between them in order to to stop the smuggling of drugs and weapons from across the border and eradicate drug trafficking,” he said.
The drug menace was prevalent more in border belt areas of Amritsar and Tarn Taran, he noted.
“During my interaction with the panches and sarpanches of various villages, I was told that even school children were becoming hooked on drugs, likely due to their easy availability in border areas near Pakistan. We need to put a complete stop to this,” he said.
He expressed concern about the lack of an antidote to combat the misuse of drones, which were being utilised to smuggle drugs, weapons, and other prohibited materials across the border.
Chief Secretary Punjab Vijay Kumar Janjua, DGP Punjab Gaurav Yadav, In-charge Secretary Ramesh Kumar Genta, Commissioner of Police Nonihal Singh, and other senior officials accompanied the Governor during the visit.
