PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur has said that relevant departments and institutions have been directed to intensify action against drug traffickers.

He launched here on Wednesday the third phase of drug-free Peshawar campaign to rehabilitate 2,000 drug addicts at a cost of Rs320 million.

He directed relevant departments to target the ‘big fish’ and make them an example, regardless of their influence. He added that drug trafficking was a heinous crime that deserved the strictest punishment.

A statement issued here said that as part of the campaign, a seminar and awareness walk were held on Wednesday at University of Peshawar. The chief minister led the walk.

Provincial ministers Syed Qasim Ali Shah and Muzammil Aslam and members of National and provincial assemblies, government officials, vice-chancellors, faculty members, religious scholars and a large number of students attended the seminar.

Under the programme, drug addicts will be shifted to rehabilitation centres where they would be provided with quality treatment and facilities. An extensive awareness campaign has also been launched in educational institutions aimed at educating the young generation about the devastating consequences of drug addiction.

“The aim of these efforts is to make the provincial capital drug-free and rehabilitate addicts, helping them to reintegrate into normal life,” Mr Gandapur told the seminar.

He said that control rooms were also established in both deputy commissioner office and chief minister’s secretariat to ensure that the programme was implemented in an efficient and result-oriented manner.

The chief minister outlined that in the first two phases of the programme, 2,400 addicts were rehabilitated including residents of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and even neighbouring Afghanistan. He said that the program would continue similarly in future, providing treatment to everyone without discrimination.

He also directed all commissioners to compile data of drug addicts in their respective divisions and provincial government would take steps for their rehabilitation.

Mr Gandapur pledged to make the province drug-free and rehabilitate addicts to transform them into valuable asset of society instead of burden.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2024