AI Generated Summary
- If drugs are sent across the border, local networks distribute them within Punjab, and the drugs eventually reach our youth, it creates a chain in which the external enemy and vested interests operating within the country become complementary to each other.
- What could be a greater tragedy than seeing the youth of Punjab—whose generations have stood on the country’s borders and faced the enemy—now searching for their future behind a packet of drugs.
- it is easy to blame Pakistan, but it is even more important to catch those who bring the drugs from Pakistan into Punjab and ultimately deliver them to the doorsteps of our homes.
The soil of Punjab has given the nation not only food, but also brave soldiers who have shed their blood to defend the country’s borders whenever the need arose. From foreign invasions to modern wars, the land of Punjab has always set an example of courage and sacrifice. Today, however, Punjab is fighting a different kind of battle—a battle whose front is no longer confined to the borders but has opened inside its villages, towns, cities and homes. This is the battle against drugs.
The question is straightforward: Has Pakistan begun using drugs as a new weapon to weaken Punjab?
This question cannot simply be dismissed as a political statement. The Government of India has stated in Parliament that foreign-based elements are involved in supplying narcotics across the border into Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir to generate funds for narco-terrorism. According to the government, 292 drones were recovered or seized along the India-Pakistan border in 2025. This highlights the seriousness of the challenge posed by cross-border trafficking through drones.
Punjab’s border with Pakistan, therefore, is no longer merely a matter of border security. If drugs are sent across the border, local networks distribute them within Punjab, and the drugs eventually reach our youth, it creates a chain in which the external enemy and vested interests operating within the country become complementary to each other.
The easiest way to weaken any society from within is to weaken its youth. What could be a greater tragedy than seeing the youth of Punjab—whose generations have stood on the country’s borders and faced the enemy—now searching for their future behind a packet of drugs?
Punjab’s youth have always been a source of strength for the country’s security. During the 1971 war, Punjab and its border areas faced extremely serious conditions on the western front. History tells us that Punjab’s real strength has always rested not merely in its land, but in its people. Therefore, losing Punjab’s younger generation to drugs is not merely a loss for individual families; it is a loss for society and for the nation’s strength.
But here, a bitter truth must also be acknowledged: it is easy to blame Pakistan, but it is even more important to catch those who bring the drugs from Pakistan into Punjab and ultimately deliver them to the doorsteps of our homes.
A consignment coming across the border can reach the market only when someone on this side is waiting to receive it. A drone can succeed only when there is a network on the ground ready to collect what it carries. Therefore, simply increasing surveillance along the border will not be enough in the fight against drugs. Allegations of involvement by drug traffickers, local networks, corrupt officials, illegal financial channels and political protection must also be investigated impartially.
Unfortunately, in Punjab, drugs are no longer merely a social problem; they have also become a permanent weapon in political blame games.
Today, the BJP is conducting a ‘Nasha Mukt Punjab Yatra’ across Punjab. Through four separate journeys, the party has planned to cover approximately 4,000 kilometres and reach all 117 Assembly constituencies.
Public awareness campaigns against drugs are certainly necessary. But the people of Punjab also have every right to ask political parties some uncomfortable questions.
Where was the same aggression against drugs when you were in power?
Why did the drug crisis not end when the coalition government was in office?
And if the governments of former political allies are now being held responsible for Punjab’s drug crisis, why are discussions about possible political alliances with those same forces taking place again?
In recent months, discussions and political speculation have emerged regarding possible political equations between the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal. Some senior BJP leaders have spoken of contesting all 117 Assembly seats independently in 2027, while reports and speculation regarding a possible alliance between the two parties have also continued.
If drugs are one of Punjab’s greatest tragedies, then no political party should attempt to escape scrutiny of its own past while making drugs an electoral issue. The public should not merely be told what another government did wrong. Every political party should also explain what it did while in power—and what it failed to do.
At present, the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party are engaged in sharp political exchanges over the drug issue. The BJP is questioning the current government, while Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is reminding the BJP of its earlier alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal.
But Punjab’s real question is much bigger than this.
Whose government was in power is a question for later.
Why did the drug economy continue to operate is the question that must be asked first.
The Aam Aadmi Party had also promised the people of Punjab in 2022 that it would take strong action against drugs. The people placed their trust in those promises. Today, the government must explain what permanent mechanisms have been created during its tenure to dismantle drug networks at their roots, how many major trafficking networks have been destroyed, how much property has been seized, and how many young people have been brought out of addiction and successfully rehabilitated.
Because Punjab now needs not announcements, but data and results.
At the same time, society cannot escape its own responsibility simply by putting governments in the dock.
Parents must learn to recognise changes in their children’s behaviour. Schools and colleges must act on early warning signs of drug use. Religious and social organisations must maintain continuous dialogue with young people. More opportunities must be created in villages and cities for sports, education, skill development and employment. Young people trapped in addiction should not simply be treated as criminals and pushed aside; they need treatment, rehabilitation and the opportunity to return to society with dignity.
And most importantly, the money trail behind the drug trade must be followed.
Arresting a small-time drug seller and taking photographs is not a solution to Punjab’s drug problem. The real battle is against the network that finances the trade, brings consignments across the border, distributes them further, provides protection and earns crores through the entire operation.
The entertainment industry must also understand its responsibility. Punjabi music and films have a deep influence on young people. If drugs, weapons and crime are repeatedly portrayed as symbols of lifestyle, power or ‘style’, society has every right to question their impact. Popularity brings not only the power to entertain but also a responsibility towards society.
Punjab must now avoid another dangerous mistake: allowing the drug issue to become merely an election issue.
Political journeys before elections and closed files after elections—this cycle cannot continue.
There must be a time-bound review of anti-drug action by every government. Accountability must extend across the entire chain—from border security to rehabilitation centres in villages and cities. Alongside police action, the success of rehabilitation programmes must also be measured. And if the involvement of any politically, administratively or financially influential individual comes to light, the investigation must be based on evidence—not on the person’s status or influence.
If Pakistan targets Punjab’s youth through drugs, India must strengthen security along the border. If local traffickers carry this poison into villages and cities, the law must pursue them. If politics attempts to turn this issue into a vote bank, the public must ask questions. And if society leaves its children to fend for themselves, Punjab’s future will be at risk.
Punjab’s battle is not only against Pakistan. It is also a battle against the mentality that sees drugs as a means of making money, against politics that treats the issue merely as an election tool, and against the social silence that wakes up only when the problem reaches one’s own home.
Today, Punjab needs to draw inspiration from its history—but it cannot afford to merely take pride in that history and remain passive.
The Punjab that stopped the enemy at the border must now stop the enemy of drugs inside its own homes.
Because the strongest answer to Pakistan’s drug war is not merely the gun standing guard at the border. It is a generation of Punjabi youth that is drug-free, educated, healthy, confident and capable of building the future.
And finally, the question is for governments, political parties and all of us:
Will we leave the future of our children at the mercy of political slogans, or will we come together to pull Punjab’s youth out of the quagmire of drugs?
