SC directs officials to launch advertisement campaign against drugs on social media

Published January 4, 2019
The Supreme Court last year took suo motu notice of the use of drugs in private as well as government educational institutions. — File
The Supreme Court last year took suo motu notice of the use of drugs in private as well as government educational institutions. — File

The Supreme Court on Friday, while hearing a suo motu case on the use of drugs in private as well as government educational institutions, rejected the report submitted by the Lahore police and ordered that an advertisement campaign be launched on social media against drugs.

Advertisements to create awareness should be run from tomorrow, said Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, adding that the police to dissuade [the court] comes up with a report about how many [people] have been arrested and how many have been let go.

He directed all four provincial chief secretaries, the in-charge of the anti-narcotics division, and secretaries of other relevant ministries to call a meeting and devise an action plan within a week.

The development comes a day after the Punjab government decided to launch a campaign against narcotics in schools. “A special campaign will be launched in educational institutions to save them from narcotics and a committee has been constituted to work on this issue,” Punjab Schools Education Minister Murad Raas said at a meeting with private school owners on Thursday.

"The National Action Plan was enforced to tackle terrorism; similarly, a plan should be made against drugs," said Justice Ijazul Ahsan during today's hearing, equating the dangerous affects of drugs on the young generation to the impact of terrorism.

The hearing was adjourned for a week.

A civil society member, Abdullah Malik, had last year submitted his application before the chief justice during a hearing of human rights cases at the Lahore registry of the Supreme Court.

Malik has said easy availability of drugs in educational institutions was destroying the lives of students while the government took no action. He said the Punjab government had committed criminal negligence by not launching a crackdown on drug peddlers. He said the future of the country would be at risk if the students were not rescued from the menace of drugs.

Opinion

Editorial

Digital growth
Updated 25 Apr, 2024

Digital growth

Democratising digital development will catalyse a rapid, if not immediate, improvement in human development indicators for the underserved segments of the Pakistani citizenry.
Nikah rights
25 Apr, 2024

Nikah rights

THE Supreme Court recently delivered a judgement championing the rights of women within a marriage. The ruling...
Campus crackdowns
25 Apr, 2024

Campus crackdowns

WHILE most Western governments have either been gladly facilitating Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, or meekly...
Ties with Tehran
Updated 24 Apr, 2024

Ties with Tehran

Tomorrow, if ties between Washington and Beijing nosedive, and the US asks Pakistan to reconsider CPEC, will we comply?
Working together
24 Apr, 2024

Working together

PAKISTAN’S democracy seems adrift, and no one understands this better than our politicians. The system has gone...
Farmers’ anxiety
24 Apr, 2024

Farmers’ anxiety

WHEAT prices in Punjab have plummeted far below the minimum support price owing to a bumper harvest, reckless...