A blast at the Ludhiana court complex on Thursday that killed one person and injured at least five others was carried out by Khalistani terrorists using local gangsters, sources told CNN-News 18. They also said that the Punjab government has been ignoring alerts and standard operating procedures (SOPs) on countering terror and extremist activities in the state.
An intelligence input says that a Lahore-based Khalistan outfit masterminded the attack with the help of some local gangsters in Ludhiana. Agencies say this is nothing but a terror attack.
According to sources, a person came to place a bomb and it went off in the process. National Security Guard (NSG) officials will visit the site on Friday for forensic examination, they said.
Central agencies have been sending alerts to the government of the poll-bound state on a daily basis, sources said, adding that recently intel was sent on possible interference by radicalised groups before the assembly elections to be held early next year.
The Punjab government has not been taking adequate action against drug mafias and weapon smugglers, said the sources.
RDX and other explosives are coming regularly into the state and their seizure has gone down recently, they said.
The Centre’s recent move to increase the jurisdiction for BSF is also because the security agencies have to be extra vigilant as Punjab shares a border with Pakistan, the sources added.
The union home ministry had issued a notification extending the Border Security Force’s jurisdiction on October 11. In Punjab, West Bengal and Assam, the BSF can operate within a larger 50-km stretch as opposed to 15 km earlier. West Bengal and Punjab, ruled by BJP rivals TMC and Congress respectively, have opposed the step, terming it an infringement of federal rights of the states.
The intelligence sources also said that Punjab courts have always been vulnerable because of extra sensitive cases and verdicts given by them in the past.
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