PESHAWAR: Poppy growing still a problem - governor - Narcotics put on fire
By Shafiq Ahmad
PESHAWAR, Jan 26: The customs authorities put on fire a large quantity of narcotics, counterfeit cigarettes and medicines with expired date of safe use to mark the International Customs Day here on Wednesday.
Despite the government's 'vigorous' efforts, the political authorities have failed to stop tribesmen from sowing poppy in areas adjacent to Afghanistan, NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah told reporters after the ceremony.
The government was planning to give incentives to poppy growers in the tribal region so as to wean them away to alternative sources of income generation, he said.
He added that he had convened a meeting of political administrators of the seven tribal agencies next week in Peshawar to chalk out a strategy for the elimination of poppy in their regions.
"We will punish those involved in the cultivation of the banned crop despite repeated warnings in the past," Mr Shah said. The poppy products were being produced across the border to find access to the international market, the governor said in his speech as the chief guest.
In Pakistan, too, the problem still existed and there was a dire need to critically evaluate the results of the past punitive actions and recast future strategies in the light of its findings, he observed.
Afghanistan's opium production last year jumped to $3 billion in value, representing 87 per cent of the world's illicit output, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The Geneva-based UNODC's "Afghanistan Opium Survey 2004" showed that although bad weather and plant diseases significantly reduced the opium yield, the output in 2004 was about 4,200 tons, "the second-largest opium harvest in the history of Afghanistan," and its farming now covered 130,000 hectares, or 2.9 per cent of the country's harvestable land.
The governor said that the problem of drug addiction had become too complex, adding that there was a dire need to mobilize the entire society to combat this menace effectively. Mr Shah said that the role of public opinion moulders, particularly the intelligentsia, was of paramount importance in this respect.
Almost two million people of the country had become drug addicts and their number was increasing steadily, he maintained. "Therefore, we have to mount vigorous efforts not only to control the problem but also to get rid of it totally."
Talking about the importance of the day, the governor said "we must not restrict our activities to just performing the ritual of putting the piles of narcotics to fire. Rather we must also seriously look back and evaluate what has been achieved", he remarked.
Almost four tons of different kinds of narcotics, fake cigarettes and other contraband items were set on fire on the occasion. Earlier, Collector of Customs, Peshawar, Liaquat Ali Agha, highlighted the importance of the day with special reference to the cause and objects of the World Customs Organisation.
