MANSEHRA, Jan 29: The people of Kohistan district have this season cultivated poppy crop on a vast tract in almost all the valleys of the mountainous landscape.

Some residents of the district informed Dawn that the people here had been cultivating poppy on small pieces of land for the last few years, but a Malik in Dubair started growing the banned crop on a large scale three years ago.

They said the Malik, by earning large profits, set an example which was being followed by others.

They said a grower sold three kilograms of raw opium for Rs28,000 per kg last year, which lured many people to switch over from wheat to poppy cultivation this year.

They said that a prominent religious figure of Kohistan had declared the poppy cultivation as legitimate, owing to the rampant poverty in the area. The scholar maintained that Islam did not prohibit such economic activity when one’s very survival was at stake, they added.

The poverty-stricken area, with a population of 0.5 million, had been a favourite constituency of the renowned political figures like the former NWFP governor, the late Fazal-e-Haq, and former federal minister, Abbas Sarfaraz Khan.

The Muttahidda Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) swept the  October 10 election in Kohistan, barring a provincial assembly seat which the alliance lost.

The wealth of forest, stretching over a vast area of the district, was a major source of income for the local population, but a ban on harvesting, imposed since 1992, had added to the miseries of the people.

The reserves of precious gemstones, especially in  the Sput valley, are another source of income in Kohistan, but poppy cultivation, requiring less effort and investment, offers huge profit, as compared to other economic opportunities.

If the local people succeed in getting the desired profit from the crop this year, it would be difficult for the authorities to stop them from cultivating the crop in the hard-to-reach areas in the future.