PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday asked the federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments to respond to a petition about the growing number of drug addicts and street beggars and lack of a rehabilitation programmes for them.

A bench consisting of Justice Mussarat Hilali and Justice Ahmad Ali Khan issued the order after holding preliminary hearing into the petition filed by senior lawyer Malik Ajmal Khan, who requested the court to ask the federal and provincial governments to take steps for the rehabilitation of drug addicts and prevent the supply of narcotics to them.

The petitioner also sought the court orders for the provincial government to prevent street begging and rehabilitate beggars, especially children and women.

He claimed that the number of beggars and drug addicts had increased across the province, particularly the provincial capital, during the last many years.

Lawyer requests PHC to order rehab of drug addicts

The court asked the federal and provincial government to file own replies to the petition and inform it about the steps on the matter.

Malik Ajmal Khan said though there were central laws as well as provincial laws like Control of Narcotics Substance Act, 1997, West Pakistan Vagrancy Ordinance, 1959, Pakistan Employment of Children Act, 1991, KP Child Protection and Welfare Act, 2010, and KP Orphanage (Supervision and Control) Act, 1976, but they’re not implemented to check drug addiction and street begging.

He said though the KPCPWA was enacted in 2010 repealing several laws, it had not been implemented causing the number of child beggars to increase.

The petitioner said the children engaged in begging needed protection under the law, so the Child Welfare Commission should come forward for the purpose.

He said under the Constitution, the public functionaries were bound to follow that law and fully implement it.

The petitioner said the Control of Narcotics Substance Act provided for the establishment of centres for the treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts, while the relevant rules were framed but despite the passage of 21 years, the law had not been implemented.

He said under the CNSA and relevant rules, the National Fund for Control of Drug Abuse had to be set up, while drug addicts had to be treated as patients and not criminals.

The petitioner claimed that now-a-days, the drug pushers had even access to the educational institutions providing drugs to young students.

He requested the high court to issue directions for all relevant authorities of the federal and KP governments to fully implement the relevant laws and check the menace of beggary and drug addiction.

The respondents in the petition are the interior ministry, Anti-Narcotics Force director general, federal law secretary, provincial minister for social welfare, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government through its chief secretary, KP Inspector General of Police, principal secretaries to the KP Governor and its chief minister, and provincial secretaries of finance, law, local government and social welfare departments.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2019