The Fact News Service
Amritsar, May 23
MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla met Dr. Shashi Tharoor, expressing concern over the impact of drug abuse and falling economic level in Amritsar. He handed over a memorandum to Dr. Tharoor and demanded national and international intervention to improve the situation in Amritsar. Dr. Shashi Tharoor is part of the delegation that visited other countries.
MP Aujla said that Punjab, especially the border area of Amritsar, has been leading in narco terrorism, drone warfare and cross-border arms smuggling for the last 45 years.
More than 2 lakh Indians have lost their lives, of which more than 90% belonged to the Sikh community. Amritsar, which was once a thriving business and industrial center, has been facing economic ruin for decades due to policy neglect, terrorism and complete closure of cross-border trade.
He said Amritsar is bleeding right now. Punjab is in pain. The nation should not look away. We need urgent national and international intervention.
He said the drug and arms smuggling across the border in Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency is not an internal security issue but a full-fledged external attack, perpetrated through narco-terrorism and drone warfare, and must be addressed as such.
MP Aujla said Amritsar, located in the border region, is the spiritual capital of Sikhism which has suffered a long and painful history of terrorism, conflict and cross-border hostility. From the dark days of terrorism in the 1980s to the devastation of the Indo-Pak wars of 1965 and 1971 and now the persistent threat of drug terrorism for the last fifteen years, the region has remained on the frontline of national security.
This is not drug smuggling; it is a deliberate and sustained act of terrorism, and by all definitions, an act of war against our nation.
But the roots of Punjab’s decline lie much deeper.
Amritsar, once the pride of North India’s industrial and business scene, has seen its entire industry collapse.
MP Aujla spoke about Amritsar’s declining economy, saying that industries like textiles, automobiles, chemicals, hosiery, carpets etc. have all collapsed. This destruction began with Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in 1984, and the economic decline has only gotten worse since then. As a result, people started moving out of Amritsar and Punjab. No recovery plan has ever been implemented in earnest.
Today, Punjab is heavily in debt, there is no trade, no exports or imports with neighbouring countries, and all border crossings are closed. “Before Partition, Amritsar was a major trade hub, with a per capita income comparable to Mumbai and Calcutta. However, its economic condition has deteriorated significantly in the last few years. Trade routes, which once extended through Afghanistan to Iran and Iraq, have been disrupted, particularly due to the rise of terrorism, leading to a sharp decline in business.” The total collapse of cross-border trade has crippled Amritsar’s economy and Amritsar, one of India’s most culturally significant and economically active cities, has become a thing of the past.
He said Pakistan devastated Amritsar and settled in Lahore. Lahore’s population has crossed one crore and is growing economically. Meanwhile, Amritsar’s income barely stands at Rs 30 lakh despite its heritage, talent and strategic location. This economic inequality is not natural – it has been created through decades of targeted terrorism and policy neglect. The smuggling of drugs and weapons across the border has been considered a terrorist act and an act of war. It is about national sovereignty, regional stability, economic justice and the right to live with dignity. Punjab, Amritsar cannot and should not be left alone in this war.
