Punjab Drug Crisis: Harbhajan Singh Video Row Exposes Narco-Terror Challenge

Singh shared a video showing two men apparently in an intoxicated state. AAP leaders responded by accusing him of maligning Punjab. It later emerged that the video was actually from Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan, not Punjab.

While the video may have been wrongly attributed to Punjab, the political dispute has once again brought attention to a larger and deeply uncomfortable reality: Punjab’s drug problem is real and is no longer merely a law-and-order issue.

Punjab’s drug crisis is increasingly becoming a narco-terror and organised-crime challenge, with drugs, illegal weapons, gangsters and Pakistan-based handlers beginning to intersect. The state is fighting the symptoms at an unprecedented scale, but the larger ecosystem remains resilient.

The Mann government can point to a substantial enforcement record. Since the launch of Yudh Nasheyan Virudh in March 2025, Punjab Police registered 36,178 FIRs and arrested 51,648 alleged drug smugglers in the first year alone. The campaign also resulted in the seizure of 2,277 kg of heroin and the recovery of Rs 16.7 crore in drug money.

By early 2026, Mann was also claiming that more than 95,000 arrests had been made in drug-related action since March 2022, with more than 71,000 NDPS FIRs registered during the AAP government’s tenure.

Similarly, Gangstran Te Vaar, launched in January 2026, has produced large-scale enforcement figures. More than 58,000 people have been acted against in 200 days, alongside extensive raids, weapon recoveries and action against gangster networks.

The figures demonstrate that the state is undertaking extensive enforcement. They also raise a critical question: if thousands of arrests, thousands of FIRs and repeated raids are required year after year, why does the underlying problem continue to reproduce itself?

ਨਜ਼ਰ ਲੱਗ ਗਈ ਯਾਰ ਸਾਡੇ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਨੂੰ… 💔

ਸਰਕਾਰਾਂ ਨੇ ਕੀ ਹਾਲ ਬਣਾ ਦਿੱਤਾ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦਾ ਤੇ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਨੌਜਵਾਨਾਂ ਦਾ। ਰੋਣਾ ਆਉਂਦਾ ਏ ਇਹ ਸਭ ਦੇਖ ਕੇ। 😢

ਬਖ਼ਸ਼ ਦਿਓ ਮੇਰੇ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਨੂੰ… ਮਾਫ਼ ਕਰੋ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਨੂੰ। 🙏

ਕਿੱਥੇ ਲੈ ਆਏ ਓ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਨੂੰ?
ਜਿਹੜਾ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਕਦੇ ਚੜ੍ਹਦੀ ਕਲਾ, ਹਿੰਮਤ ਤੇ ਬਹਾਦਰੀ ਲਈ ਜਾਣਿਆ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਸੀ, ਅੱਜ ਉਸੇ ਪੰਜਾਬ… pic.twitter.com/RAp3aYy0i2

— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) August 10, 2026

Punjab’s challenge becomes more complicated at the intersection of drugs, weapons and organised crime. Police and security agencies are increasingly describing narco-terror as a cross-border threat, with Pakistan-based handlers using drones and criminal networks to push narcotics and weapons into Punjab.

Recent operations have again exposed this pipeline. An Ajnala seizure included an AK rifle, 25 pistols, magazines and ammunition, with investigators suspecting drone-based delivery and links to overseas handlers.

Punjab Police has also recently busted Pakistan-linked terror modules in which foreign handlers allegedly recruited local youth and tasked them with surveillance, weapons procurement and attempts to disrupt public order.

The government has also focused on awareness, prevention and rehabilitation through bike rallies, cycle rallies, awareness drives, e-rickshaw campaigns, school programmes, helplines and repeated messaging. It has proposed a Rs 42.95-crore action plan for prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and outreach for 2026-27.

Awareness and rehabilitation remain part of the response, but they cannot by themselves dismantle a supply chain extending across borders, ports, drones, gangsters and local peddlers. A rally can create awareness, but it cannot intercept a drone. A poster can change a conversation, but it cannot dismantle a financial network.

The political debate in Punjab also reflects the long-running nature of the crisis. For nearly 15 years, governments have changed, slogans have changed and campaigns have changed, but the fundamental problem has survived.

Congress blamed the Akalis. The AAP blamed previous governments. The BJP blames the state government. The state blames the Centre and Pakistan. Each has a part of the explanation, but no government has yet produced a sufficiently credible long-term blueprint to change Punjab’s trajectory.

The same challenge is visible in Punjab’s finances. The 2026-27 budget projects outstanding debt at about Rs 4.48 lakh crore by March 2027. The state is also budgeting for a revenue deficit of Rs 21,955 crore and a fiscal deficit of nearly Rs 40,000 crore.

The question is not simply how much Punjab borrows. The larger question is what Punjab is borrowing for and whether that borrowing is creating an economy capable of paying it back.

The drug crisis, arms crisis, gangster crisis and fiscal crisis therefore cannot be viewed as separate stories. They point to a broader challenge involving Punjab’s ability to generate productive economic opportunity, maintain social stability and build institutional capacity for its future.

Punjab’s political class has repeatedly approached the state’s problems through five-year cycles, with projects, presentations, schemes and election campaigns. But the state’s problems have accumulated over decades and require a generational response.

Punjab does not merely need another government, another slogan or another campaign against another menace. It needs a vision for survival, economically, socially and strategically. Without such a long-term response, governments may continue announcing victories while the underlying crisis continues to reproduce itself.