New Delhi, Sep 22 — The Khalistan movement in Punjab may not have gained the momentum that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had anticipated, but a disturbing trend is emerging in the state that has become a major concern for security agencies, intelligence officials have said.

The original strategy of groups such as Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) was to launch a full-fledged, military-style campaign in Punjab and eventually establish an independent Khalistan. However, the movement failed to attract sufficient local support or gain the desired traction. This made recruitment increasingly difficult, preventing the groups from carrying out operations on the scale they had initially planned.

An official said the ISI, which backs the BKI, felt that there needs to be a change in approach in Punjab.

“The recent killings of Punjab policemen and attacks targeting them appear to be the first step in efforts to revive the Khalistan issue. While the targeting of police personnel is a matter of serious concern, outfits such as the BKI have also intensified drone activity to smuggle drugs and arms into Punjab,” the official said.

An Intelligence Bureau official said the emerging pattern was significant. With the Khalistan movement failing to gain the expected traction, the BKI has now shifted towards carrying out smaller operations at regular intervals, the official said.

“This is aimed at stressing the security mechanism in Punjab. When the mechanism is under pressure, it is easier to launch large-scale operations in the state,” the official said.

The officials say that in a nutshell, it is a ‘slow and steady’ approach that the BKI has adopted in Punjab.

“While the Punjab Police have successfully foiled several operations by Khalistani groups, the frequency of these incidents has put considerable pressure on the security system,” officials said.

Another official said that when one analyses the data, it becomes clear that the frequency of targeted killings and the number of incidents where drones have dropped weapons into Punjab have only gone up.

Between September 3 and September 16 this year, there have been seizures of arms and drugs on nine different occasions. As many as 33 kg of heroin has been seized in just 12 days of this month. During the same period, 38 arms have been seized, and these include AK-47s, pistols, illegal pistols, and .30 bore pistols. When it comes to the seizure of live cartridges, the figure stood at 115 between September 3 and 16.

Even the targeting of police personnel has gone up this year. On February 23 this year, two police personnel – an Assistant Sub-Inspector Gurnam Sing and another cop Ashok Kumar -- were shot dead at a border check post near the International Border.

On May 24 this year, Assistant Sub-Inspector Joga Singh was killed in an early-morning attack. Earlier this month, Assistant Sub-Inspector Harjit Singh was shot dead in another attack.

The killing of Harjit Singh came just days after an Assistant Sub-Inspector was shot at near Ajnala. The officer, however, survived the attack.

In addition to this, there have been multiple threats that have been issued to the Punjab police about the safety of their personnel. Officials say that this is more of a psychological battle that has been launched by the ISI.

“The big attacks are clearly not on the cards for now. However, if one gets to read about police officials being targeted so frequently, and the quantity of arms ammunition, and drugs being pushed into the state only leads to a panic situation. It feels as though the state is always under an imminent threat,” officials say.

While the psychological battle is one part of the strategy, the other is to keep the security agencies always engaged. The police are always on the lookout for criminals recruited by the ISI and is trying to thwart attacks and smuggling attempts all day long.

Outfits such as the BKI need the police to miss just once so that they can launch a major attack on the state.

While the police are dealing with these incidents in Punjab on a daily basis, they also have to look into the propaganda battle that has been launched in a big way by terror outfits such as the Sikhs for Justice (SFJ). All this taking place simultaneously is meant to stress the system to such an extent that major terror operations could be launched in the state of Punjab, an official said.

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