KARACHI, June 28: The prize distribution ceremony of Anti-Narcotics Force paintings/ posters contest took place at Sadequain Art Gallery on Friday.

The contest was titled “War against narcotics”.

The jury, comprising Marjorie Hussain, Dr Altaf H. Ali and Shaikh Rashid Siddiqui, declared Munir Shah the first prize winner in the paintings’ contest. Ayaz Javed and Khalid Iqbal bagged the second and third prizes, respectively. The consolation prize was given to Khuram Manzoor.

In the posters’ contest, the jury declared Fatima Gulraize Mir the first prize winner. Aslam Bashir and Ahmed Ali bagged the second and third prizes, respectively. The consolation prize was given to Zakia M. Ali.

The Sindh minister for health, Ahsan Ahmed, said that the ANF, besides discharging its duty of law-enforcement, had been organizing a variety of programmes in its effort to keep the general public aware of drug abuse in society.

He said: “It is a great honour for us that the international community has declared Pakistan a ‘poppy-free’ country. However, our land is being used as a transit-route to America, Europe and other continents. One of the neighbouring countries is producing 75 per cent of the narcotics of the world and our land being transit land has been affected and the curse of narcotics has been thrust upon the young generation.”

He added that it was the time to wake up to keep the general public aware of drug abuse as our new generation was being entangled in the web of narcotics.

“Of course we can’t finish the use of narcotics as well, because the criminals and drug barons are introducing every day some new technique for spreading the evil of narcotics.

“However, we can reduce the ratio of use of the narcotics in the country by spreading awareness in the general public that how the curse of narcotics is destroying the general public and as a result Pakistan was sustaining heavy losses in the sense that the young generation was falling prey to the addiction of narcotics. Use of narcotics not only renders the user useless to society but makes them prey to a number of lethal diseases.”

Speaking about the contest, he said: “Art is one of the effective mediums in bringing of social and cultural awareness among the common people. From the ancient cultures to modern times, artists have been playing an important role in understanding the complexities of nature, culture, history and suffering of humanity. The ANF has accepted the task of war against narcotics on numerous fronts.”

He added that it was our responsibility to save the nation from the curse of drugs and to save the dreams of innocent people from suffering due to the use of narcotics. The ANF force commander also spoke on the occasion.