Amritsar Police Chief Ousted After ISI Controversy as Cross-Border Drug Networks Dismantled
Amritsar stood at the centre of Punjab's security and political life this week as the state government abruptly transferred Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar just hours after he made pointed public remarks about an alleged ISI-backed protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. At the same time, Amritsar District Urban Police dismantled two separate cross-border smuggling networks, seizing illegal firearms and heroin allegedly delivered via drone drops from Pakistan, underscoring the city's enduring position on the front line of both security operations and political controversy.
🗳️ Police Commissioner Bhullar Removed Amid Political Storm Over ISI Remarks
Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, Amritsar's Commissioner of Police, was abruptly transferred by the Punjab government on August 7, just hours after he publicly threatened action against participants of what he characterised as an ISI-backed protest gathering at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. Bhullar's statement — asserting that the rally had backing from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence — immediately drew fierce criticism from the BJP and triggered a swift political response from the Aam Aadmi Party-led state government, which appointed DIG Border Range Harmanbir Singh as his replacement on additional charge. BJP leaders questioned the timing sharply, arguing the transfer appeared to penalise an officer who had just led successful operations against terror modules operating in the region. Reporting from NDTV, ThePrint, and ANI noted that the episode exposed deep tensions between Punjab Police's operational independence and the political pressures surrounding any public assertion about cross-border militancy. The controversy arrives at a particularly sensitive moment: Independence Day is approaching, and Amritsar's proximity to the international border means it is always placed under intensified security scrutiny during the national holiday period, making any disruption to the police command structure especially consequential for both civic administration and public confidence. [1]
Amritsar Police Bust Two Cross-Border Drug and Arms Networks, Seven Arrested
Amritsar District Urban Police announced the arrest of seven individuals linked to two separate smuggling networks allegedly operating under the direction of handlers based abroad. In operations carried out ahead of Independence Day, officers recovered 10 illegal pistols, 1.054 kilograms of heroin, five live cartridges, and a drone from the accused. Police Commissioner Harmandeep Singh Gill confirmed that preliminary investigations reveal those arrested had been in active contact with foreign-based smugglers facilitating the supply of weapons and narcotics across the international border into Punjab. The Tribune reported that Pakistan-based handlers have increasingly turned to commercial-grade drones to deliver arms and heroin packages into the border belt, a technique that has posed growing challenges for law enforcement on both sides of the frontier. Two separate FIRs were registered at Cantonment Police Station and D-Division Police Station in Amritsar. Interrogations are continuing as authorities work to map backward sourcing networks and trace intended forward distribution channels within Punjab. Punjab Newsline reported that investigators are also working to identify other associates of the foreign-based handlers and gather wider intelligence about the cross-border networks, with the busts forming part of a broader Independence Day security push along Punjab's border districts. [8]
🪔 Gen Z Filmmaker Channels Punjab's Spirit of Faith and Service from Golden Temple to New Cinema
A Times of India profile spotlights a young Gen Z filmmaker from Punjab whose creative work draws directly from the spiritual landscape of Amritsar and the traditions of the Golden Temple. Growing up in close proximity to the Golden Temple, she describes witnessing daily seva — the Sikh principle of selfless service — as a foundational influence on her understanding of community, purpose, and narrative. Her latest film, Hanuman Ansh, ventures into the territory of Hindu devotion while retaining the pluralistic sensibility that characterises Punjab's lived religious culture, where gurudwaras and mandirs have long coexisted as intertwined centres of neighbourhood life. The filmmaker explains that she deliberately moved away from the urban cynicism dominating much of Indian independent cinema, instead rooting her storytelling in the specificity of Punjabi faith practices and the particular texture of life in a border state where religion and resilience are inseparable. The profile is part of a growing conversation about how younger artists from Punjab are negotiating questions of identity, spiritual inheritance, and national belonging in an era of rapid social change and persistent political turbulence. For the Desi diaspora with roots in the region, her work offers a reminder that Amritsar remains a living spiritual and cultural capital whose influence continues to shape new voices in Indian cinema and beyond. [2]
Sources: [1] NDTV · [8] Punjab Newsline · [2] The Times of India