KARACHI: Sindh Assembly’s Standing Committee on Home Affairs on Tuesday ordered expansion of drug rehabilitation facilities’ network to cover the entire province. It also reaffirmed ‘zero-tolerance policy’ against narcotics networks.

The committee, which met here with MPA Faryal Talpur in the chair, reviewed the province’s overall law and order situation, with particular emphasis on the ongoing anti-narcotics operations, action against gutka and mawa traders, and public safety measures.

The ANF officials present in the meeting told the committee that three rehabilitation centres were currently operational in Karachi and one each in Hyderabad and Sukkur, providing free treatment with a combined capacity of 405 beds.

Citing a 2013 survey that an estimated 650,000 drug users in Sindh, ANF stressed the urgent need to expand rehabilitation facilities. Proposals for new centres in Shaheed Benazirabad and Mirpurkhas were presented.

MPA Talpur directed the authorities concerned to establish more rehab centres across Sindh in collaboration with the health department, and also ordered the upgrading of existing facilities in Sukkur and Hyderabad.

The meeting was attended by Home Minister Ziaul-Hassan Lanjar, Excise, Taxation and Narcotics Control Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla and Education Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah.

The Standing Committee members, including Sohail Anwar Siyal, Dr Qasim Soomro and Sadia Javed, were present alongside special invitees Senators Zameer Ghumro, Sarmad Ali and Poonjo Bheel, MNAs Nabeel Gabol, Agha Rafiullah, Sharmila Faruqui and Hakeem Baloch; and Mayor Karachi Murtaza Wahab.

Additional Chief Secretary Home Muhammad Iqbal Memon and top police leadership including the IGP Sindh, Additional IGP Karachi, Additional IG CTD, Additional IG Special Branch and all DIGs and SSPs also participated in the meeting.

According to a press statement, the city police chief briefed the committee on the arrest of alleged drug baroness, Anmol alias Pinky, outlining recoveries, case details, and her criminal record in Karachi, Lahore and other cities.

He said that operations against her network and facilitators were continuing in coordination with federal agencies.The committee also reviewed measures to monitor Sindh-Balochistan border routes to prevent smuggling and inter-provincial narcotics trafficking.

Officials shared updates on province-wide campaigns against the sale and use of gutka, mawa and other harmful substances, along with awareness programmes being run in educational institutions.

Education Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah said that several measures were taken to prevent narcotics and gutka use in schools and colleges. These include awareness campaigns, teacher-student training sessions, and initiatives to promote safe educational environment.

Ms Talpur appreciated law-enforcement agencies’ efforts and called for tighter inter-agency coordination and monitoring.

She said the real objective was to dismantle entire drug networks, not just arrest of individual dealers.

The committee chairperson directed to take strict, indiscriminate action against local facilitators of narcotics, being supplied from abroad, particularly African countries, and made it clear that the zero-tolerance policy would apply to all, regardless of their influence. “Narcotics destroy not just individuals, but entire generations,” she remarked, and urged institutions, elected representatives, and society, mainly parents and teachers of students, to unite against the menace.

Home Minister Zia-ul-Hassan Lanjar reaffirmed the provincial government’s zero-tolerance policy against drug traffickers and criminal networks targeting the youth.

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2026