Daily Times

Sir: It would be naive and misleading to assume that only employees of PIA, ASF, Customs, ANF etc are solely involved in what is definitely an international heroin smuggling operation. As long as FBR chooses to be a passive inert organisation which fails to question those who go from rags to riches, Pakistan will continue to be tainted.

The question arises; will Pakistani State muster moral high courage to nab and punish powerful mafias of this country, be they drug mafia or land mafia that seems to be more powerful than the State itself? Pakistan is the biggest victim of terrorism which survives on criminal black economy that serves to finance their evil network. There has to be very powerful and influential mafias involved, because other than catching petty carriers and facilitators from various security, custom and ground cum cargo handling agencies and airline staff deputed at airports, the real mafia dons have not even been identified and caught. If Investigating and Prosecuting state agencies had the will and there were no powerful godfathers to protect them, the real criminals involved in this billion dollar network would have been exposed and punished by now.

There have been numerous instances in the past such as the incidence of heroin found in left behind baggage of an influential officer attached to a former military dictator accompanying him on a VVIP flight. In that case the officer resigned from sensitive agency only to be rehabilitated in civil bureaucracy and today he holds one of most powerful constitutional public office. Merely catching those who are paid to carry these drugs and other contraband stuff and hiding them on aircrafts will serve no purpose other than serve as a cover up to protect the drug mafia dons and cartels involved in this heinous crime. It is the powerful mafia which bribes those working at our airports to successfully manage to evade various check-posts and hide heroin behind Quick Access Panels on PIA aircrafts. These drugs are then retrieved at airports located in Europe etc where they were being shipped, taken out and sold through organised distribution network on international network in what is a risky but very profitable business.

ALI MALIK T

Lahore

Published in Daily Times, June 20th, 2017.