The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday asked Union home minister Amit Shah to stop using Punjab as a political target and answer questions about drug networks and investigations elsewhere in the country.

The AAP said Punjab Police had disrupted cross-border supply and was now dealing with an interstate drug network. (HT)

The AAP said Shah came to Punjab to lecture on drugs, but on the same day 526kg of heroin and methamphetamine was seized in an operation involving the Gujarat ATS and Indian Coast Guard. “We have been saying that Gujarat has emerged as a major gateway for drugs in the country. This seizure once again shows the scale of the problem. If Shah is serious about Nasha Mukt Bharat, he should start his Nasha Mukt Yatra from Gujarat, not Punjab,” it said in a statement after the Union minister addressed the anti-drug rally in Jalandhar.

The party claimed the Mann government had already broken the supply chain networks of drug peddlers who were fleeing to neighbouring BJP-ruled states. “Around 80% of pharmaceutical tablets and capsules available in Punjab are reported to originate from outside the state, with consignments linked to Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and other states,” it alleged.

The AAP said Punjab Police had disrupted cross-border supply and was now dealing with an interstate drug network.

AAP Punjab chief spokesperson and MLA Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, in a separate statement, said the state government was doing everything within its jurisdiction to stop the drug trade, but border security was the central government’s responsibility. He said the Centre must strengthen surveillance, install anti-drone systems and take effective measures to stop the smuggling of drugs and weapons across the border. “Punjab shares a 532-kilometre-long International border with Pakistan, while a 50-kilometre area along the border comes under the BSF. Drones are being used to bring drugs and weapons across the border. CM Mann has repeatedly demanded that the Centre install anti-drone systems and take effective steps to seal the border, but the Central government is running away from its responsibility,” he claimed.

Why such a long deadline? Warring asks Shah

Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring on Wednesday asked the Union home minister why he set such a long deadline, till December 2029, for finishing the drug problem in Punjab. “It is like a long post-dated cheque of a crashing bank,” he said. He asked why the BJP government at the Centre woke up to the drug problem only on the eve of elections.

While the AAP government in Punjab is responsible for its abject failure to control the supply and peddling of drugs in the state, the BJP-led Centre also failed to maintain oversight, Warring said, adding that it also did not take any visible and effective measures to stop the smuggling of drugs from across the border via drones.

BJP, AAP must stop blame game: Bajwa

Leader of the Opposition in Punjab Vidhan Sabha Partap Singh Bajwa said the state’s drug crisis cannot be solved through political optics and demanded that both the BJP-led Centre and the AAP-led Punjab government answer for their accountability.

Reacting to Amit Shah’s visit to Punjab, Bajwa asked the Union government to explain what measurable impact the expansion of the BSF’s operational jurisdiction from 15km to 50km has had since 2021.

He said the BJP must also answer for the larger Punjab-Pakistan border security challenge.

At the same time, Bajwa said the AAP cannot escape responsibility by blaming the Centre. Policing, local intelligence, action against peddlers, rehabilitation and protection of vulnerable communities remain crucial responsibilities of the Punjab government, he said.

Former Punjab Assembly Speaker and patron of Shiromani Akali Dal (Punar Surjit) Ravi Inder Singh alleged that the Union and Punjab governments are using the drug issue for political point-scoring instead of addressing the problem effectively.

In a statement, he said both state as well as central governments were blaming each other over the drug menace, while failing to demonstrate tangible results in curbing drug abuse and trafficking.