As the controversy revolves around Udta Punjab, a movie which talks about the dangerous spread of narcotics in the daily life of a common man in Punjab, near home the reality is that Jammu is slowly emerging as the transit point for high value drugs like heroin and other synthetic derivatives in the cross-border trade with involvement of people even from down south Kerala. Earlier drug seizure in Jammu and Kashmir used to be in small quantities. But the seizure of five car-borne persons carrying the consignment for forward movement to Kerala has shown the spread the menace has gone. One cannot rule out terror link in such incidents. What happened in Dina Nagar and Pathankot in Punjab is the fall-out of this nexus. Emergence of Kerala link is not new. In 2008, the Jammu and Kashmir Police had arrested a Kerala youth for his alleged links with a Jammu and Kashmir militant group. Even at that time Kerala police officers had not confirmed the identity of the militants but they were in contact with Jammu and Kashmir police. On October 7, 2008 two militants identified as Abdul Rehman and Muhammad Fayaz belonging to Kannur and Malappuram districts of Kerala were killed in a shootout with security forces in Lolab area of Kupwara district. Similarly on October 10, 2008 three more militants, which included two Keralites and one Pakistani national, were killed in another encounter in Kupwara district. Although Kerala could have been the least fertile soil for any Jihadi terrorist activity in the world, given that people belonging to the “minority” religions are an integral part of the socio-economic, cultural and political mainstream and that there is hardly any alienation, it was intriguing that considerable number of youth from the state had been led into a path of misplaced religious anger and violence. Though Kerala itself has not witnessed any major terror attack, the mere fact that Kerala youths have traveled all the way to join the ranks of Kashmiri militants or drug smugglers show what is in store for the state.
