Chandigarh: Two back-to-back explosions near security establishments rocked Punjab Tuesday night, triggering panic and a political blame game with police suspecting a plot by Pakistan’s ISI to cause disruptions ahead of Operation Sindoor anniversary.
The first explosion went off around 8 pm in Jalandhar outside the headquarters of the Border Security Force’s Punjab Frontier, while the second blast occurred around 11 pm near the army cantonment in Amritsar’s Khasa. No injuries were reported, police said.
Last night, police had said a scooter parked near the BSF Chowk in Jalandhar district caught fire causing panic in the area even though locals claimed they heard a blast-like sound from the vehicle.
DGP Gaurav Yadav on Wednesday said the Amritsar blast was a low-intensity explosion and no group has claimed responsibility for it. However, he suspected Pakistan’s ISI to be behind the incident.
“We assume that, as today is the Operation Sindoor anniversary, this is part of Pakistan’s ISI’s designs to cause disruptions in Punjab. Punjab is fighting a proxy war on behalf of the nation against Pakistan,” he said.
On the Jalandhar explosion, he said the Khalistan Liberation Army (KLF) has claimed responsibility, adding “we are verifying” this.
In the Jalandhar incident, the blast ripped apart a scooter, damaged a traffic signal pole and windowpanes of a nearby shop. Locals recounted that the scooter, which was parked outside the BSF headquarters caught fire shortly after a loud sound. The scooter belonged to Gurpreet Singh, who regularly delivers parcels in the area.
CCTV footage showed an unidentified man running for cover following the blast.
Jalandhar Police Commissioner Dhanpreet Kaur said an FIR has been registered and initial investigations suggest some form of explosive material was used in the Jalandhar blast.
“Our forensic teams have collected explosive swabs from here, which have been sent to a forensic laboratory for examination. We believe that the blast was carried out using explosives here,” she said, adding technical investigations and camera reviews are ongoing and 3-4 leads are being currently pursued.
Amritsar (Rural) SSP Suhail Mir Qasim said police received reports of a loud sound around 11 pm on a road in Khasa. Preliminary inspections indicated someone threw the explosive device towards the boundary wall, leading to the blast. Police mentioned that a piece of a tin sheet covering the boundary wall fell as a result of the blast.
A team of forensic and bomb disposal squad visited the sites to collect samples.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday termed the blasts “minor” and targeted the BJP, saying this was how the party was preparing for the upcoming assembly elections in the state.
He said those responsible would soon be exposed and brought to justice.
“BJP is a communal party. The assembly elections are over in West Bengal, and they (BJP) have said that now it is Punjab’s turn, which indicates that these minor blasts are part of their preparation for the Punjab assembly elections,” he alleged.
Later, in a statement, he also alleged that the blasts were part of a deliberate strategy to destabilise the state after the passage of the anti-sacrilege law.
The BJP hit back with national spokesperson Sambit Patra terming Mann’s remarks “condemnable” and accused him of making politically motivated allegations without waiting for the investigation findings.
“Punjab is a sensitive border state, and naturally there is round-the-clock vigilance there. Every statement made by the chief minister carries significance. Without waiting for any investigation report, Bhagwant Mann, at the behest of Arvind Kejriwal and for political gains, made such a statement. It is condemnable,” Patra told a press conference in Delhi.
Quoting the Punjab DGP, Patra alleged that Pakistan and the ISI have, from time to time, tried to create unrest in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir through terrorist activities.
Another BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla alleged that the law and order situation in Punjab had deteriorated under the AAP government, claiming that incidents of blasts, grenade attacks, gang wars and murders had increased in the state.
“Ever since the Aam Aadmi Party has come to power in Punjab, law and order has collapsed. This is not the first time such things are happening,” he claimed.
Poonawalla alleged that the AAP government was “hand in glove with mafia and radical elements” and accused it of using the police force for providing “VVIP security” to party leaders and pursuing “vendetta politics” instead of ensuring public safety.
Opposition parties in Punjab also condemned the AAP government over the blasts.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal criticised Mann, who also holds the home portfolio, saying continued intelligence failures and the collapse of law and order are a matter of grave concern.
Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring also slammed the Mann government and said back-to-back blasts are deeply alarming.
On April 27 too, there was an explosion at a freight corridor rail track in Shambhu in Patiala. Police arrested four members of a pro-Khalistan terror module, backed by Pakistan’s ISI, for the blast.
