Asserting that there is no political interference in the Punjab Police’s “all-out war” against the drug menace and terror modules, director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said that chief minister Bhagwant Mann has given him a freehand to deal with the law and order challenges confronting the border state.

“My force is working professionally, without any political meddling, and in tandem with central agencies to maintain the hard-won peace in Punjab,” Yadav said while interacting with Hindustan Times staffers here on Monday. “The chief minister’s mandate to us is clear. We will never allow the return of dark days,” he added, alluding to the extremist violence that consumed Punjab in the 90s, claiming more than 25,000 lives.

Yadav’s categorical statement came in the backdrop of mounting criticism by the opposition parties over what they call a downslide in the state’s law and order ahead of the assembly elections due early next year.

Reeling out a raft of official statistics, Yadav defended the police’s performance, citing Punjab’s low crime rate vis-à-vis the national average and a decline in the organised crime rate in the state. “The crime scenario in Punjab is significantly better than many states, including Haryana and Delhi,” he said.

Quoting the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) data and last year’s crime statistics, Yadav said Punjab’s crime rate stood at 153.8 per lakh population against the national average of 252.3. “Since 2022, the Indian Penal Code crime has declined by 8% as compared to the figures between 2017 and 2021,” he said.

While acknowledging the challenges of Pakistan-sponsored narco-terrorism, rapidly changing drone technology and use of social media to hire the youth for subversive acts for as little as ₹ 5,000, he insisted that the situation is not as grave as being projected — an implicit counter to the opposition’s charge. “Professional policing should be judged by facts, not propaganda,” he added.

Crediting the state’s anti-narcotics tirade called “Yudh Nashian Virudh” for making a dent in overall drug supply on ground, he said the police had made over 88,000 arrests and seized over 44,000 kg of heroin since March last year, accounting for roughly 60% of heroin seizures across the country. “Punjab’s conviction rate in NDPS cases is 90% as compared to 54% in Haryana,” the DGP said.

On gangster violence, Yadav said organised crime-related murders had declined from 43 last year to 24 in 2026, while firing incidents fell from 207 to 128. The state’s anti-gangsters operations and the American Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Operation Hard Ball have dealt a major blow to gangsters, he said.

Flagging the issue of habit-forming pharmaceutical drugs manufactured in Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat finding their way into Punjab, the DGP called for a stronger inter-state regulatory coordination.