Punjab CM Amarinder Singh Warns Pakistan Over Nefarious Plans, Says 'We Will Teach Them Lesson Of Their Lifetime'

Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh brought up the issue of drones being used by Pakistan to smuggle arms and drugs into the state.

Capt Amarinder Singh | Imran Khan (File Photo)

New Delhi: On the occasion of India's 75th Independence Day, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Sunday addressed the issue of trouble caused by the neighbouring nation, vowing to protect the state against the nefarious designs of Pakistan. He also committed to continuing the fight against Centre's "black" farm laws.

Talking about exercising extreme vigil against Pakistan, the Chief Minister said: "We want Punjab, but will not tolerate any aggression or attack on our territory", news agency IANS reported.

Addressing the citizens after unfurling the national flag in Amritsar, the Chief Minister declared "we will teach them (Pakistan) the lesson of their lifetime if they try to be adventurous".

Capt Amarinder Singh brought up the issue of drones being used by the neighbouring country to smuggle arms and drugs into the state. He cautioned that Pakistan would not give up any opportunity to take advantage of any vulnerability in Punjab.

Emphasising the need for peace to promote development of industry and progress of people, the Punjab CM said that his government would not tolerate any threat, including those from gangsters and terrorists.

"We will deal with them squarely. Any threat to Punjab would be a danger to our entire nation," he added.

He revealed that since his government took over in 2017, 47 Pakistani terrorist modules and 347 modules of gangsters had been neutralised.

Farmers' Protest

Capt Amarinder Singh later also interacted with the media where he expressed concerns about the continued agitation against contentious agrarian laws. He said that he had raised the issue recently during his meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

He informed that he demanded the repeal of the farm laws, which he termed as anti-farmer and against the spirit of the Constitution.

He also pledged to continue the fight in support of farmers for the revocation of these legislations, emphasising that he would not let the sacrifices of those who had lost their lives in this struggle go in vain.

"The fight against these black laws is not political. It does not matter who is in power where. We need to stand by what is right and to ensure that our rights under the Constitution are not crushed. Had some of the other political parties heeded my repeated implorations in June last year to unitedly articulate our deep concerns before the Centre, this situation might not have arisen," he said as quoted by IANS.

Sacrilege Cases & Drugs Menace

In his speech, CM Amarinder Singh also talked about the legal efforts made by his government to get the sacrilege cases back from the CBI as the previous SAD-BJP government had handed over three first information reports they had registered to the central agency, along with another three in the Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan firing cases.

"Since taking over the cases from the CBI, chargesheets have been filed in four cases against 23 persons and 15 police personnel have been suspended while 10 persons have been arrested," he said, adding that 10 challans have been presented so far.

Talking about his government's work in the fight against drugs, the Chief Minister pointed out that 47,510 cases had been registered under the NDPS Act and the 216 'big fish' were arrested so far.

More than 700,000 patients are undergoing treatment as part of the de-addiction programme, he added.