WASHINGTON, March 1: Poppy cultivation increased in Pakistan during 2007 because of the country’s preoccupation with the war on terror, says the US State Department.

Pakistan is a major transit country for opiates and hashish from neighbouring Afghanistan.

In its annual report on drug trafficking and production, the State Department noted that the “imperative of combating militants in the Fata diverted resources and political attention away from Pakistan’s goal of returning to a poppy-free status.”

In 2007, Pakistan saw an increase of poppy cultivation. Roughly 2,315 hectares were cultivated in 2007 compared to cultivation of approximately 1,908ha in 2006. Over 600ha were eradicated.

The State Department described this as an ‘impressive achievement under the circumstances,’ which brought the harvested poppy down to 1,701ha.

A large opium processing lab in Balochistan was destroyed by the Anti-Narcotics Force in June 2006. The Pakistan government maintains that no opiate laboratories have been detected operating in the country.

The number of drug addicts in Pakistan is estimated to be at between two and three million.

The past year has seen major counter-narcotics interdictions by the Frontier Corps Balochistan and the Pakistan Coast Guards. Customs and Excise, the Maritime Security Agency and the Home Departments of the Northwest Frontier Province and Balochistan Province also are active in disrupting the traffickers.

The US report urged Pakistan to modify its extradition act to enable quick extradition of persons charged with narcotics-related offences and other crimes.

Poppy cultivation in the country had shot up from 213ha in 2001 to 7,571ha in 2004. The government responded with forceful eradication campaigns, destroying 4,400ha in 2004. Pakistan reversed the trend in 2005 and 2006, reducing the poppy harvest after eradication to 1,549 ha by 2006.

In the tribal belt where militant activity is a continuous threat, 2,315ha were cultivated this year.

“Under these circumstances, and given the temptation to look the other way to win over these locals from extremism, the net harvest of only 1,701ha, while a turn in the wrong direction clearly shows that the authorities are seriously committed to poppy eradication,” the report said.