New Delhi, July 17, 2026
Punjab is set to go to the polls in February 2027, but the political temperature in the state is already rising. While a range of issues is expected to dominate the election discourse, security is likely to remain a key concern in the run-up to the Assembly polls.
Intelligence agencies have repeatedly intercepted cross-border communications pointing to plans for targeted killings, attempts to incite communal tensions, and stepped-up drone-based smuggling operations.
An Intelligence Bureau official said the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has been attempting to recruit small-time gangsters ahead of the Punjab Assembly elections, allegedly to create unrest in the state. According to the official, those recruited are tasked with closely monitoring the situation on the ground and identifying even the smallest disputes.
“These disputes need not necessarily be political and could include personal conflicts, which could then be exploited to fuel tension,” the official added.
The official said the gangsters are reportedly being instructed to infiltrate such disputes and inflame them so that minor incidents escalate into major clashes involving large-scale violence and bloodshed.
“These disputes are often local in nature and can ordinarily be resolved without much difficulty. However, by exploiting these flashpoints, the recruited gangsters are expected to ensure that they spiral into much larger confrontations,” the officials added.
The objective is not necessarily to target any political leader or party, but to inflame local incidents into major episodes of violence that would strain the security apparatus during the election period, the official said.
Another official said the broader aim is to divert the security forces’ attention. “By keeping the security establishment occupied with maintaining law and order, the ISI intends to step up large-scale smuggling of drugs and arms across the border,” the official added.
However, the plans are not limited to inflaming minor incidents of violence to divert the attention of the security forces. The Pakistani spy agency has also reportedly instructed its operatives to carry out targeted killings of political leaders to create an atmosphere of fear ahead of and during the elections in Punjab.
Officials said the alleged strategy is part of a broader game plan. According to them, the ISI believes that if the elections are held in an atmosphere of fear, voter turnout could be adversely affected. They also pointed out that, as a border state adjoining Pakistan, Punjab has a much larger deployment of central security agencies than most other states.
“By attempting to create fear during the election period and suppress voter participation, the ISI is also seeking to embarrass the Centre,” the officials said.
Security experts, meanwhile, say Punjab has emerged as one of India’s most significant national security challenges.
The ISI is in fact focusing more on Punjab rather than Kashmir nowadays. It knows the situation is volatile in the state and hence wants to exploit it to instil the Khalistan ideology in the state. To drum up the sentiments of the people of Punjab against the establishment, the ISI has been using all sorts of tactics. It has a set of people who just focus on tarnishing the image of the Punjab police and central agencies.
This propaganda involves the use of social media and OTT platforms to defame the security agencies. There is a one-sided narrative that these elements are trying to spread in the state.
Officials said the narrative being circulated focuses only on the alleged excesses committed by the security forces against Khalistani elements, while ignoring the violence and atrocities carried out by Khalistani militants.
The official said that during the peak of militancy in Punjab, ISI-backed Khalistani terror groups had targeted minority communities and killed large numbers of police personnel. However, these acts are largely omitted from the narrative being circulated, which, according to the official, points to a deliberate attempt to build a false narrative against the state and its security agencies.
Counter-terror officials said the coming year is likely to be one of the most challenging for Punjab from a security perspective. According to them, the ISI is expected to operate on multiple fronts, ranging from attempts to trigger local disturbances to larger terror-linked activities. They also said newer methods are being adopted to infiltrate drones into Indian territory, including the use of loud music along the border to mask their movement and avoid detection.
Officials urged the youth not to fall into what they described as attempts by the ISI to lure and exploit them. They cautioned that Punjab must not be allowed to return to the dark days of militancy, when groups such as the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) had spread widespread terror across the state.(Agency)
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