Punjab on the Brink: Ignored warnings, resurgent threats, and the peril of returning to the dark days…….by GPS Mann

Ignored Warnings Come True

More than a year ago, in April 2025, Punjab Congress leader and Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa had sounded a public alarm: 50 hand grenades had been smuggled into Punjab, with 18 already exploded and 32 still active.

His warning, drawn from intelligence inputs, was not met with urgent investigation. Instead, the AAP government booked him for “spreading misleading information” and questioned his patriotism. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who also holds the Home portfolio, dismissed it as political mischief.

Today, that warning stands bloodily validated. Grenades, IEDs, and now evidence of more sophisticated explosives are resurfacing.

The Patiala Blast and Major Arms Recovery

The botched IED explosion on the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor near Bathonia village in Patiala district on the night of April 27-28, 2026, was no isolated mishap.

A man identified as Jagroop (or Jagrup) Singh of Panjwar Khurd village in Tarn Taran district was killed when the device he was allegedly planting detonated prematurely. Within hours, Punjab Police busted a pro-Khalistan terror module, arresting four persons under UAPA and recovering arms, ammunition, and sophisticated communication devices.

Although Jagroop Singh himself was killed in the premature detonation, the swift and intensive interrogation of his arrested associates — including his younger brother Satnam Singh (alias Satta) and three other module members — produced explosive disclosures. Acting on these leads, Punjab Police conducted follow-up raids in Panjwarh Khurd village in Tarn Taran district and unearthed a massive cache of arms and explosives.

The recoveries included a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG), nearly 1.5 kg of RDX, a hand grenade, a metallic IED (sticky bomb) weighing over 2 kg, three high-end pistols (including a 9mm Glock-18 from Austria), detonators with electric wires, live cartridges, wireless sets (Baofeng), timer switches, and other sophisticated communication equipment. This major haul not only confirmed the existence of a well-armed, ISI-backed pro-Khalistan terror module but also averted potentially deadlier attacks on public infrastructure.

Repeated Attacks on Critical Infrastructure

This was the second such attack on the same freight corridor in just three months — the first occurring on January 23 near Khanpur village in Sirhind.

Economic Warfare on India’s Logistics Lifeline

What makes these incidents particularly alarming is the clear pattern of deliberate targeting of one of India’s most ambitious and strategically vital infrastructure projects.

The Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor, spanning over 2,800 km across nine states at a cost of ₹1.25 lakh crore, is the backbone of the country’s logistics revolution. It slashes transit times dramatically — Mumbai-Delhi in 48 hours instead of three days — boosts freight capacity for coal, steel, agri-produce and industrial goods, decongests passenger lines, and even supports rapid military mobilisation.

It represents national prestige and economic muscle. Attacking it is not random vandalism; it is economic warfare aimed at disrupting supply chains that feed Punjab’s farms and factories and connect northern India to eastern markets.

International Terror Links and Radicalisation

The module behind the April incident had clear international tentacles: Jagroop Singh reportedly had contacts with a US-based handler and a Pakistan-based operative, with prior trips to Malaysia. His village carries a dark history linked to earlier Khalistan networks. These are not home-grown loners but part of a networked threat with Pakistan-ISI fingerprints.

The man killed in Patiala — Jagroop Singh — was reportedly an active campaigner for jailed Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh during the 2024 polls. His radicalisation cannot be wished away.

The Crime-Terror-Drug Cartel

Law and order, gangsters, terrorists and drugs have now merged into a dangerous cartel remotely controlled by anti-national forces across the border. This has become the Achilles heel of the AAP government — its glaring failure to control the deteriorating law and order situation.

I had argued earlier that by the 2027 Assembly elections, gangsters and the broader law-and-order collapse would emerge as the core agenda confronting the ruling dispensation. The Congress and Akali Dal cannot be exonerated either; the facts of history show how both parties have, at different times, promoted gangsters for their own nefarious political use.

Misplaced Priorities of State Intelligence

Even more disturbing is the fact that the state intelligence machinery appears more focused on snooping on political opponents than on tracking crime syndicates or the cross-border danger staring us in the face.

Echoes of the Black Days

Punjab has walked this path before. The “black days” of the 1980s and early 1990s — militancy, counter-insurgency, and unimaginable human cost — still scar the collective memory. Congress governments of that era experimented with Punjab and paid a heavy political price; the eventual restoration of peace came at enormous sacrifice. That history is a cautionary tale. The state simply cannot afford to be pushed back into that abyss.

Why Punjab is Back on the Enemy’s Radar

The latest incidents raise uncomfortable questions. Pakistan has realised that its strategy in Jammu and Kashmir has failed. After the revocation of Article 370, J&K has witnessed a stark improvement — investments have grown, the economy has revived, and ordinary people are finding jobs and opportunities. Why, then, is Punjab suddenly back on the enemy’s radar? The answer lies in a dangerous cocktail: fragile youth battling unemployment, easy radicalisation, and the deep connect and influence of a Khalistan-leaning diaspora. This mix is not just perilous for Punjab — it threatens the entire nation.

Punjab is India’s food bowl. Can the country afford to let its most productive agricultural heartland be disturbed and destabilised?

Cross-Border Threat or Internal Complicity?

The latest incidents raise further uncomfortable questions. Is the threat purely cross-border, orchestrated from Pakistan with overseas Khalistani support? Or is there internal flirting — tacit tolerance, ideological soft corners, or political patronage — that provides oxygen to these elements? The swift arrests are commendable, but they cannot substitute for sustained vigilance, robust intelligence, de-radicalisation, and zero-tolerance policing of critical infrastructure.

Time for Action, Not Denial

Chief Minister Mann has projected Punjab as a model of governance. Yet when opposition leaders like Bajwa and Sukhbir Singh Badal demand urgent action, the response has too often been denial or deflection. Law and order cannot run on press releases and PR. The freight corridor is Punjab’s — and India’s — economic artery. Disrupting it hits farmers’ incomes, industrial output, and national security.

A Call Beyond Politics

The people of Punjab deserve better than slogans. The grenades Bajwa warned about are no longer theoretical — they are exploding on our railway tracks. The blood of Jagroop Singh is a stark reminder.

Punjab rose from the ashes of militancy through resilience and peace. That progress must not be squandered.

The Centre and the state must work in tandem. Blaming each other will not help; rather, it will push Punjab into an abyss. Intelligence-sharing, proactive security of vital assets, and political accountability across party lines are non-negotiable. The time for denial is over. Punjab cannot, must not slide back into the dark era, even if it is a politics-driven agenda for the 2027 polls.

Let us leave politics aside and see Punjab as Punjabi citizens, as the nation’s food bowl and a national buffer against hostilities. The cost of complacency will be paid not by politicians, but by the people who have already suffered too much. It is time to wake up before the next blast is not “botched.”

May 1, 2026