ISI converts Sikh terror groups into drug cartels

Pakistan's intelligence agency, the Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) has turned several chiefs of Sikh terror outfits based in Pakistan into drug smugglers who are destroying a generation of youth of Punjab and other parts of India, informed sources have revealed.

Smuggling of weapons and drugs by Pakistan-based chiefs of Sikh terror groups haz resulted in a rivalry among the militant Sikh Groups who are competing for the ISI's patronage and each one of them is trying to outperform the other in smuggling drugs like Heroin in India.

In the biggest-ever narcotics haul in June 2019, the Indian customs department had seized 532 kg of heroin worth Rs 2,700 crore, which was smuggled into India from Pakistan in a truck through the trade route at the Attari border.

The National Investigation Agency had termed the recovery of lethal drugs as a case of 'narco-terrorism'.

It was the result of rivalry among the Sikh militant groups based in Pakistan that on January 27, a top leader of Khalistan Liberation Force, Harmeet Singh alias Happy PhD, was killed at the Dera Chahal Gurudwara near Lahore by a local gang over financial disputes stemming from drug smuggling.

Harmeet, who was also allegedly involved in the murders of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leaders in Punjab in 2016-2017, was wanted in India in several cases, and was involved in the smuggling of weapons and drugs from Pakistan.

According to informed sources, India submitted a 23-page dossier of 15 pro-Khalist activists residing in Pakistan, containing events from the past four years, during the second round of Kartarpur Corridor talks between the two countries in Wagah in July last year.

The dossier had year-wise pictorial details of Gopal Singh Chawla, a key Khalist element, and his anti-India activities on social media.

The dossier also included the details of Jagroop Singh Rupa, who went with a "jatha" to Pakistan in 2016, and was given arms training by fugitive Sikh militants Lakhbir Singh Rode and Harmeet Singh to carry out terror attacks in India.

Sources reveal that the ISI is also using many pro-Khalistan militants based in Pakistan for promoting terror and terror ideology by luring the youth, spreading hatred and propaganda, through social media.

There are growing indications that Pakistan is orchestrating much of this activity as part of a wider campaign to fuel instability in Indian Punjab.

( With inputs from ANI )