Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, in order to control penetration of narcotics into cities and into the educational institutions in particular, has constituted a high-power Taskforce under his command; the taskforce would be called as `Chief Minister Taskforce on Narcotics.
This decision was taken in a high-level meeting held here on Monday at CM House. The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, Minister Health Dr Azra Pechuho, Minister Excise Mukesh Chawla, Advisor to CM Murtaza Wahab, DG Rangers Major Gen Omer Ahmed Bukhari, IG Police DR Kaleem Imam, Regional Director ANF Brigadier Mansoor Ahmed Janjua, PSCM Sajid Jamal Abro, Secretary Health Zahid Abbasi, Secretary Excise Haleem Shaikh, DG Excise Shoaib Siddiqui and provincial heads of national Intelligence agencies.
The Chief Minister Taskforce on Narcotics would have senior members such as DG Rangers, IG Police, Minister and Secretary Excise, Minister and Secretary Health, Law Advisor, Regional Director Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) and provincial head of national intelligence agencies.
The chief minister said that not only narcotic was coming through borders with other provinces/countries but it penetrates into cities and then into schools. "It's penetration in schools is quite dangerous and we have to work together to stop it right from border to cities and cities to schools," he said.
The chief minister was told that heroin and cannabis were smuggled here from Afghanistan, cocaine from South Africa, and synthesis and ice drug from China.
The chief minister in consultation with all the agencies decided to constitute three committees under his taskforce. DG Rangers Major General Omer Ahmed Bukhari would head a committee for surveillance of borders with other provinces so that drugs smuggling to Sindh could be controlled.
Another committee under IG Police would monitor and conduct operation with the support Rangers and other agencies against drug dealers, peddlers and traffickers in the province. This committee would coordinate with the administration of educational institutions to control drug penetration. The administration and the parents would be taken into confidence to develop a mechanism to purge the educational institutions from narcotics items.
The third committee would be under Advisor Law Murtaza Wahab to strengthen prosecution to prosecute narcotics related cases in the courts of law. The cases registered against drug smugglers and dealers will be prepared with proper attention and expertise so that strong cases could be taken to the court.
The chief minister directed the chief secretary to notify the Chief Minister Taskforce on Narcotic control and also directed IG Police Dr Kaleem Imam to prepare tasks for the committees in consultation with Rangers and other agencies to save future generations.
The chief minister also suggested constituting another committee under Health department to work for rehabilitation of heroin and other narcotics edicts and bring them back to normal life.
The meeting was told that there was a 2,611 km long border with Afghanistan, therefore strict measure would be taken there. This task was assigned to RD ANF to further coordinate with his counterparts in KPK and Balochistan. The RD ANF told the chief minister that Pakistan was declared poppy free state in 2001. Therefore, the borders for smugglers would be sealed.
The meeting observed that a trend of using synthetic among drugs and cocaine was on the rise among youngsters. At this the chief minister said that this was actual task for which we all were sitting in the meeting.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2019
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