Pakistan’s Narcotics Push Meets Bulldozers as JKP Targets Assets and Crops to Choke Terror Financing

Srinagar: Police in Jammu and Kashmir have escalated their campaign against narco-terrorism, bulldozing trafficker’s homes, uprooting opium fields, and stripping offenders. 

The drive aims to dismantle drug networks that officials say bankroll terrorism while poisoning the region’s youth.

On Thursday, Rajiv Nagar in Jammu city witnessed bulldozers and drilling machines tearing down three houses allegedly built with drug money. The congested lanes forced police to use drills where heavy machinery could not reach.

“This is not just demolition of illegal structures,” a senior officer said. “It is demolition of the ecosystem that sustains narco-terrorism,”.

The crackdown follows Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha’s directive to dismantle the entire drug-terror nexus. Authorities confirmed traffickers are losing not only their properties but also government benefits and passports.

Officials further informed that Pakistan continues to push narcotics across the border to bankroll terrorism.

 “The fight against drugs is inseparable from the fight against terrorism,” a senior police officer said.

Beyond urban demolitions, police widened their campaign in Kashmir valley too. In Pulwama, Ganderbal, Budgam, and Kulgam, large-scale opium poppy fields were destroyed. Landowners were given 24-hour ultimatums to clear crops, failing which FIRs were registered under the NDPS Act.

In Kulgam’s Munad area, police uprooted opium grown on Abdul Hameed Mir’s land, while in Ganderbal’s Thune village, cultivation on Ghulam Mohammad Nazar’s property led to FIR No. 32/2026.

Budgam police issued a public advisory urging residents to voluntarily destroy poppy plants within 24 hours.

“We have even enlisted mosque imams to spread awareness,” said a district official, “because this is a collective goal; a drug-free society,”

In Awantipora, inspections of chemist shops intensified to ensure compliance with pharmaceutical regulations. Violators of tobacco control laws were fined under COTPA, part of the broader 100-day “Drug-Free Jammu and Kashmir” program.

Authorities highlighted that in 2023–24 alone, 273 acres of opium poppy and 1,642 acres of cannabis were destroyed. Earlier drives in 2016 and 2022 cleared hundreds of acres, highlighting the persistence of illicit cultivation in remote areas.