In Islamabad, the Anti-Narcotics Force ANF Pakistan was able to expand beyond limits and took on an enhanced capacity to be able to counter the issue of drug trafficking. If you begin to cut the problem off at the root, managing the rest of it becomes far easier.
The force received key equipment to battle transnational crime as well. The equipment was provided under the Japan-funded United Nation’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) – which was a $6.5 million project. It was aiming to improve coordination between ANF members and the Inter-Agency Task Force, to be able to make the most effective route possible and effectively combat drug smugglers.
Nearly 20 dog sniffers and 40 bulletproof vests were readily provided, along with helmets to enhance capacity where the problem is most common – coastal areas, dry ports, border areas, and seaports. These were the locations that had to be kept in mind and targeted while focusing on the problem at hand.
The handing over ceremony was attended by numerous leading and prominent figures.
The Anti-Narcotics Force realizes how crucial border security is, and the border Pakistan shares with Afghanistan often acts as a major gateway to drugs. Afghanistan has gained a reputation for its role in the drug building capacity, where the poppy business too, flourishes, and drug money rolls in millions.
Because the border is too large to be properly regulated, this can lead to drug traffickers entering the country and enables the movement of drugs to and fro.
Japan lauded the Anti–Narcotics Force’s efforts and claimed that it stood by Pakistan in ridding it of this menace.
The World Health Organization – WHO, Health Ministry and the Anti–Narcotics Force ANF Pakistan joined hands, and signed a memorandum that enabled them to work together and solely for the cause of decreasing the use of tobacco products, and protecting society from drugs overall.
Under this agreement, the WHO would be providing support to back research and development activities. And also to find out alternate cash crop areas where tobacco is being cultivated.
Dr. Minhajus Siraj claimed that they had set up and established tobacco control cells across 13 cities, however, the police was not able to properly coordinate with them, when they tried to seek support for conducting raids against counterfeit cigarettes, that though cheap, are extremely dangerous to health – and to passive smokers passing nearby.
In the history of the country, farmers were once encouraged to grow tobacco, and asked to stop the cultivation of poppy, and move on to the cultivation of tobacco instead. However, now these farmers, surviving on their basic farming skills, are being asked to switch to another cash crop to get by, and dispose of tobacco farming altogether to help demotivate the culture within Pakistan.
A statement was issued by the Ministry, where it was claimed that the MoU would be shifting focus primarily on controlling and regulating the use of tobacco and drugs in the region by means of strategic planning, and awareness campaigns, as well as strengthening regulatory bodies at all levels.
The Anti – Narcotics Force in Pakistan continues to strive to do better and somehow eliminate the problem altogether, however drug abuse and misuse is an issue that has been growing systematically over the years and maybe hard to battle all at once. Since these drugs force people to crave them, urgently, there are numerous drug systems that we are unaware of, set up in various cities and at various levels around the country, to ensure that the drug supply is never cut off. Since people are minting millions out of this business, and there exists an entire operational Mafia behind the drug business, this is an issue that needs to be blunted, over and over across the years.