May 02, 2008	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 25, 1429

RAWALPINDI, May 1: Counter-terrorism operations along the Pakistan-Afghan border are hampering efforts to eradicate poppy cultivation in Fata, says a report released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The report, “Illicit drug trends in Pakistan”, expresses concern over diminishing community support for counter-terrorism operations and lack of available security force because of the operations along the border.

“Eradication efforts need to be improved, particularly in the Khyber Agency where there is a trend towards cultivation within walled compounds to conceal the crop from the authorities,” the report said.

While the area cultivated in Pakistan during 2007 equalled only about 1.2 per cent of the area cultivated in Afghanistan, there is a risk that it may increase substantially unless sustained efforts are made to dissuade farmers from planting poppy and crops are destroyed before harvest.

Narcotics production and refining in Afghanistan, it said, had a major impact on Pakistan.

According to UNODC’s Afghanistan Opium Survey 2007, around 70 per cent of the country’s poppy was grown in five provinces along the border with Pakistan.

“This clearly has profound implications for the drug situation in Pakistan and underlines the necessity of strengthening Pakistan’s interdiction capabilities,” says the report.

Of the 6,703 hectares cultivated in Pakistan in 2003, 38 per cent was harvested.

In 2004, with a similar level of cultivation (6,694 hectares), 22 per cent was harvested.

Although the total reported cultivation in 2005 dropped by 47 per cent to 3,145 hectares, 75 per cent was harvested, mostly in the Khyber Agency.

In 2006, the cultivation dropped by 61 per cent to 1,909 hectares.

In Balochistan, poppy cultivation declined from 3,067 hectares in 2004 to 424 hectares by May 2007.

The entire poppy crop of 2005 and almost the entire of 2007 were destroyed.

The report said Pakistan was a primary transit country for opiates produced in Afghanistan.

“Trafficking of opiates into and through Pakistan increased dramatically during 2001-06 corresponding roughly to the increase in opium production in Afghanistan from 185 metric tons in 2001 to 6,100 metric tons in 2006”.