RAWALPINDI: Anti-Narcotics Force chief Maj Gen Musarrat Nawaz Malik has said that Canada’s support for enhancing the ANF’s capacity at strategically important places like Gwadar will help take the world closer to its goal of getting rid of drugs and transnational organised crimes.

The ANF’s director general was addressing on Wednesday participants of a presentation held in connection with the inauguration of the prefabricated block of the ANF Police Station, Gwadar, built with the financial assistance of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Canadian High Commission in Pakistan.

Secretary of the Ministry of Narcotics Control Iqbal Mehmood, High Commissioner of Canada in Pakistan Perry Calderwood, UNODC Country Head Cesar Guedes, drug liaison officers of different countries, foreign dignitaries and senior officials of the ANF attended the function.

Mr Malik thanked the government of Canada and the UNODC for enhancing the ANF’s capacity and appreciated their contributions, saying that it would facilitate in infrastructure and technical uplift of anti-drug set-ups.

The country, he said, gives exceptional importance to cooperation with the international community and sincerely acknowledges the support provided by international partners, especially the UNODC.

He said that trafficking of drugs and precursor chemicals was a transnational organised crime and a growing challenge to the rule of law, good governance and development.

Pakistan, despite being the flag-bearer in fight against drugs, had become a transit point and a victim country to drug trafficking and its precursor chemicals, DG ANF added. He reaffirmed the commitment to continue the war against drugs with resilience not only to protect society but also shield the world from the devastating effects of drugs.

Cesar Guedes and Perry Calderwood appreciated the ANF’s achievements and its role as a specialised force in combating trafficking of drugs at the national, regional and global levels. They assured their support to the ANF to tackling the menace more vigorously and praised the capacity-building of the ANF and its role in improving cooperation across the globe.

Iqbal Mehmood reiterated Pakistan’s resolve to stamping out drug menace from the country, region and the world. He said Pakistan would continue to strive for a world ‘free of illicit drugs’.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2017