PESHAWAR/LANDI KOTAL, Sept 7: The government is considering taking new measures to curb poppy cultivation in the NWFP and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, as the sowing season of the prohibited plant is about to commence.
The estimated 4,000 tons of opium production in neighbouring Afghanistan this year has also put anti-narcotics agencies in a state of high alert.
Regional Director of Anti-Narcotics Force Brigadier Inamul Haq told Dawn that the agency had requested the government to extend the Control of Narcotics Substance Act, 1999, to the tribal region to curb the cultivation and trade of banned crop.
At present, the agency deals with drugs-related cases in Fata under section 40 of the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR), while the previous martial law regime had extended the Prohibition (Enforcement of Hudood) Order, 1979 to the area.
The ANF officials acknowledged that Islamabad had not yet received fresh technical assistance from abroad, including the US government to properly check drug trafficking from across the border.
Senior officials of the NWFP Governor’s Fata Secretariat said that a multiple approach was under consideration to stop poppy cultivation in the traditional and non-traditional areas of the province and tribal belt.
Sources said foreign donors were mounting pressure on the government to bring down poppy cultivation to zero level as the ANF officials claimed that about two years back the United Nations had confirmed that Pakistan had almost controlled the banned crop’s cultivation.
Last year, poppy was grown over 3,859 acres in different parts of the tribal region. In areas like Kurram, North and South Waziristan agencies where poppy cultivation was never witnessed in the past, growers took up poppy harvest.
An official of the Home and Tribal Affairs Department told Dawn that political agents of seven tribal agencies and district coordination officers of six frontier regions had been issued directives to adopt a pre-emptive strategy to stop poppy cultivation.
“It has been proposed that no community development scheme should be undertaken for two years in those parts of Fata where poppy is cultivated,” Governor’s Fata Secretariat officials said.
Besides, it has also been proposed that the ANF would conduct aerial surveys in Fata to check sowing of poppy in Fata and Pata, while the revenue staff would check on-ground movement. Other government agencies would keep an eye on sale of poppy seeds and opium gum and activities of opium contractors in the tribal areas.
The officials said that action would also be taken against those contractors who paid money to the growers in advance.
The sources said during a meeting held at the Fata Secretariat, Peshawar, a proposal was tabled which called for destroying poppy crop with herbicide spray. However, the proposal was rejected because it was not environment-friendly.