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To sustain their proxy war, the ISI and its long-standing affiliates, including Lashkar-e-Taiba, have fundamentally overhauled their cross-border logistical pipeline
A drone after it was gunned down by Border Security Force (BSF) along the India-Pakistan border, near Amritsar. File pic/ANI
An explosive investigation by CNN-News18 has laid bare a highly coordinated Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) blueprint that seamlessly interlocks Pakistan’s domestic minority failures with aggressive cross-border destabilisation efforts. Security agencies have decoded how the Pakistani deep state systematically exploits local Sikh grievances while concurrently operating a massive drone-led financial and logistical infrastructure designed to resurrect Khalistan separatism across the Indian border in Punjab.
The Domestic Playbook: Strategic Neglect and Exploitation
At the core of this dual-track strategy is a cynical cycle of domestic repression and external exploitation. Nationally, Pakistan continues to fail in protecting its historic Sikh shrines. Sacred sites are routinely subjected to systematic neglect, illegal encroachment, and targeted vandalism—vividly illustrated by the recent demolition of a historic gurdwara in Farooqabad. Security analysts view these acts as a deliberate assertion of Islamic majoritarianism.
However, the blueprint truly reveals itself in how the ISI capitalises on the resulting outrage. By weaponising the genuine grief and resentment of the Sikh diaspora over the destruction of their heritage, Pakistani intelligence networks fuel radicalisation narratives abroad, cleverly redirecting this local devastation into a potent recruitment and propaganda tool for the Khalistan movement within India.
High-Tech Smuggling: The Drone Pipeline Escalation
To sustain this proxy war, the ISI and its long-standing affiliates, including Lashkar-e-Taiba, have fundamentally overhauled their cross-border logistical pipeline. Intelligence reports reveal a staggering escalation in the deployment of advanced, industrial-grade drones engineered to smuggle arms, ammunition, cash, and high-purity narcotics into Indian territory.
The hard data provided by border security agencies underscores the terrifying velocity of this aerial threat:
Exponential Trajectory: Drone-related narcotics cases along the international border in Punjab skyrocketed from a mere three incidents in 2021 to a massive 179 cases in 2024.
Record Infiltration: The Border Security Force (BSF) intercepted an unprecedented 257 illegal Pakistani drones in 2024 alone. By early June 2026, Punjab Police had already seized 139 drones alongside 516 kilograms of heroin, a blistering rate that eclipses previous yearly totals.
Volume Explosion: Total heroin recoveries linked directly to drone incursions climbed from just 10 kilograms in 2021 to an astonishing 468 kilograms in 2025.
This quantitative leap is driven by qualitative upgrades in technology. Smugglers have transitioned to advanced DJI Mavic variants and larger custom payloads equipped with satellite-enabled navigation systems. These modifications allow for deeper geographical incursions into India while successfully evading conventional anti-drone jamming frequencies.
Funding the Syndicate: Narco-Terrorism in Action
The ultimate objective of this hybrid infrastructure is the creation and financial sustenance of highly lethal terror modules. A prime example is the notorious Shehzad Bhatti gang, a sophisticated syndicate recently dismantled by the Delhi Police Special Cell. Led by Bhatti—a Pakistan-based gangster operating at the direct behest of the ISI—this network orchestrated hand grenade attacks, including an explosion outside the Gurdaspur City Police Station, and conducted reconnaissance on several high-profile targets across northern India.
The ISI ensures a continuous flow of funding, tactical training, and refuge for these operatives. The financial machinery is entirely self-sustaining, funded heavily by the multi-million dollar proceeds of the cross-border narco-trade and seamlessly routed through a dark network of international diaspora sympathisers, domestic criminal syndicates, and dead-drop logistics. By linking the degradation of Sikh heritage sites at home with advanced technological warfare abroad, the ISI’s latest blueprint stands exposed as a highly volatile, multi-layered threat to regional stability.
About the Author
Group Editor, Investigations & Security Affairs, Network18
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