`PESHAWAR: Ulema urged to help eradicate drug abuse
Bureau Report
PESHAWAR, March 19: The Director-General Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF), Maj-Gen Nadeem Ahmad, has urged the ulema to play there role in eradicating the menace of poppy cultivation and drug abuse. Speaking at a one-day seminar on the ‘role of ulema in drug abuse prevention’ here on Saturday, he appreciated the efforts of the Taliban government in the eradication of poppy cultivation in Afghanistan. Poppy cultivation had been eradicated from the Taliban-controlled areas of Afghanistan and production of heroin banned, he said.
Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani and ANF regional director Brig Mohammad Najam-ul-Hassan Jamil also spoke on the occasion.
The ANF chief said after the downfall of the Taliban government not only opium production had been resumed but a large area of the country brought under poppy cultivation.
He said poppy was being grown over 130,000 hacters of land in the war-torn country.
The government of President Hamid Karzai, he said, had engaged ulema to woo the farmers to give up poppy cultivation. The Afghan ulema had recently issued religious decree against poppy cultivation and production of heroin, he pointed out.
He said poppy cultivation, which was prohibited in 1979, had increased in the country, and it was cultivated over 6,000 hacters of land in upper parts of the NWFP, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and Balochistan during last two to three years.
Maj-Gen Nadeem urged the ulema to play their role to eliminate poppy cultivation and drug abuse from society.
At present, he said there were four million drug addicts in the country as compared with 300,000 in 1983.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Akram Durrani warned that the government would use force if growers did not destroy poppy crops voluntarily.
He said he visited some areas and requested growers to give up poppy cultivation voluntarily. He assured that the government would utilize its resources to meet the basic needs of the people of these areas.
Terming poverty a basic factor for poppy cultivation, he said the provincial government had prepared development package for three backward areas — Kohistan, Upper Dir and Kala Dhaka — and sought assistance from foreign missions of the developed countries in Islamabad, but had not been given any response.
If the developed countries spent two per cent of their total defence budget on poverty alleviation, he said, the menace of drug abuse and poppy cultivation could be removed from the glob.
BALOCHISTAN SITUATION: Mr Durrani said use of force would complicate the situation in Balochistan and the government should solve the genuine problems of the Baloch people.
During a brief chat with the journalists after the seminar, he said Balochistan issue could be resolved through negotiations and the government should avoid use of force in this regard.
“The government should spend money for the welfare of Balochistan instead of deployment of troops and use of force,” the chief minister said.
He said the central leaders of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal had already issued policy statement on the Balochistan situation and he would not give further comments.
