Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi
New Delhi, Sep 16: In the wake of India’s high-impact Operation Sindoor and the tightening of security along the India-Pakistan border, Pakistan’s spy agency, the ISI, has reportedly pivoted to a more covert and dangerous tactic — setting up underground arms manufacturing units across India.
This dramatic shift in strategy comes after India’s retaliatory operation to avenge the Pahalgam terror attack, which killed 26 civilians. The Line of Control (LoC) and the Punjab border — once primary routes for arms smuggling — are now under round-the-clock surveillance, leaving little room for infiltration or drone-based drops.
Facing these setbacks, the ISI is now turning inward — attempting to activate sleeper cells and modules within India to manufacture and distribute weapons from remote locations. Intelligence sources say these modules are being modeled after the Burdwan module in West Bengal, busted in 2014, where Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) ran covert bomb-making units disguised as firecracker workshops.
ISI’s New Blueprint: Domestic Arms Production
According to Intelligence Bureau (IB) intercepts, the ISI is encouraging its agents to establish small-scale arms factories within India, particularly in rural and isolated areas. These are intended to support terror operations in Jammu and Kashmir and potentially elsewhere in the country.
The goal:
• Bypass tightened LoC and Punjab borders
• Manufacture bombs and ammunition locally
• Establish secure supply chains to active terror cells
• Avoid drone detection and reduce reliance on external routes
Financial Network: Hawala from Gulf
Funding for these operations is being routed through illegal hawala channels, with most of the money originating from Gulf countries, according to counter-terrorism officials. These funds are then directed to modules for buying raw materials and establishing micro-manufacturing hubs.
Agencies have warned that failure to detect and dismantle these hubs quickly could allow terrorists to build a decentralized but robust arms production network — nearly impossible to shut down once fully operational.
The Burdwan Precedent
The reference to Burdwan is not incidental. Back in 2014, the JMB had built thousands of bombs in small residential units, camouflaged as part of cottage industries. These were intended to be used for regime change in Bangladesh. Indian authorities fear a similar model is now being adopted by the ISI for operations within India — this time with the aim of sustained terror attacks and logistical support to J&K-based operatives.
Nationwide Coordination Urged
In response, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has directed all state police forces to work closely with central agencies, with special attention on:
• Surveillance of remote and semi-urban regions
• Monitoring suspicious financial transactions
• Inspecting firecracker units and chemical shops
• Tracking illegal land occupation or unusual rural activity
Officials warn that while setting up these micro-factories takes little time, the damage they can inflict is massive, if even a few go undetected.
Conclusion
As conventional smuggling routes are increasingly sealed off, India’s counter-terrorism agencies now face the complex challenge of detecting and dismantling internal production cells, set up by foreign-backed elements.
The ISI’s evolving playbook, driven by desperation and precision countermeasures from Indian forces, signals a new and more covert phase of asymmetric warfare — one that demands high-tech surveillance, grassroots intelligence, and seamless state-centre cooperation.