Daily Times

Sindh, the second-biggest province of the federation, continues to suffer from multiple afflictions ranging from the self-perpetuating rural-urban political divide to the collapse of municipal, educational, and healthcare systems; the acute scarcity of agricultural inputs and irrigation water; the corrupt and dysfunctional administrative apparatus; the worsening law and order situation; the persistent food insecurity in Tharparkar; the menacing drug peddling and the oppressive policing.

The local print and electronic media have been regularly spotlighting all these issues. However, the so-called national media as usual remains indifferent to the woes of Sindh. I have written many columns on the rural-urban political and ethnic divide; the collapsing municipal, educational, and healthcare systems, and the blatant interference in the provincial autonomy by the federal authorities. All this has failed to spur the lethargic provincial and federal administrations into any result-oriented action.

A few years ago, the Sindh Vision, a non-political organization, held a well-attended workshop on the inter-provincial distribution of irrigation under the Water Accords of 1992. The recommendations of the workshop were printed in a booklet and its copies were forwarded to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, Provincial Irrigation Secretaries, IRSA, and WAPDA. The inter-provincial distribution of irrigation water continues to sour relations between the provinces of Sindh and Punjab, thereby, weakening national harmony.

Besides the serious issues as catalogued above, which are taking a heavy toll on the overall social and economic progress of the province, the single most threat to the health and wellbeing of the people of Sindh is the ever-increasing scourge of drug peddling. This has now acquired a dangerous proportion and involves the provincial police for inter-city trafficking of drugs in official vehicles. Not long ago, the Inspector of CID police along with his squad was caught red-handed in trafficking drugs in his patrolling vehicle. This reflects how far the drug mafia has penetrated every nook and cranny of the province spreading its tentacles in the state agencies supposed to curb its heinous activities.

One is compelled to compare the onslaught of the drug mafia on Sindh with the historic opium war imposed on China.

Pakistan was almost a narcotic-free country before 1979. The military intervention in Afghanistan by the mindless Soviet leaders and the head-long plunge of the country into American jihad against the Soviet Union in the Afghan land accepting a huge number of Afghan refugees by dictator Zia ul Haq made Pakistan vulnerable to drug and Kalashnikov cultures. Afghans relocated their narcotic factories from Afghanistan to FATA without any hindrance turning the drug-free Pakistan into a land of over two million heroin addicts by 1985.

We have a full-fledged Narcotics Division with all essential administrative and legal apparatuses mainly manned by senior officials of the security forces. This Division is in place for decades. It has mostly concentrated on the smuggling of narcotics abroad to the neglect of the menacing drug trafficking within the country. The drugs are peddled from one corner to the farthest corners of the country passing by numerous security check posts and police pickets. This could not have been possibly done without the active connivance of the drug prevention and law-enforcing agencies. This is, to say the least, a grave national security threat.

Sindh is gravely affected by this fast-spreading national threat because of the corrupt and dysfunctional controlling agencies. Drug addicts roam in the cities and towns of the province and die on roadsides with the Edhi Centre undertaking the burial of their unclaimed dead bodies. The young lives of two unfortunate members of my extended family were claimed by drug addiction. The provincial authorities seem to be oblivious to this scourge that has spread to the farthest towns and villages of the land. There are no public rehabilitation centers for the addicts. Conversely, the trafficking and sale of drugs are growing by leaps and bounds.

One can safely assert that there are more drug addicts in Sindh than in other provinces. The drug mafia has long ago penetrated the sacred premises of our colleges and universities. The capital city is a haven for drug peddlers and drug addicts. Many neighborhoods are known as no-go areas because of drug barons. The city has known corners and crannies frequented openly by the addicts to sniff and smoke or inject this poison into their sick veins to the full glare of the police. Drug suppliers have found their way into its academic institutions.

Similarly, the twin cities of Hyderabad and Jamshoro have a cluster of colleges and universities. Many students, both male, and female, reportedly have fallen prey to drug peddlers who have established not-so-clandestine sale points in shops, restaurants, and hotels around the Railway Crossing close to Sindh University, Liaquat Medical University, and Mehran Engineering University targeting the young students of these universities.

The management of these universities, ripped asunder by corruption, internal rivalries, and administrative quarrels, has not moved the district administration against this exponential threat to our young generation. At least, the local media has not reported any anti-drug campaign by the district administration. We have been hearing the lone voice of Professor Sikander Ali Memon warning us of the increasing threat to the health and wellbeing of our youth. He was one of the main motivators of the large anti-narcotics walk of students and teachers organized in Jamshoro a couple of days ago. Sometimes, one is compelled to compare this onslaught of the drug mafia on Sindh with the historic opium war(1839-1842) imposed on China by the British Empire to promote the opium trade. Has the drug mafia found Sindh an easy prey for its dirty trade? It seems the enemies of Pakistan have decided to paralyze one of its most important limbs and bring the land of Sindh under their sway by spreading the use of crippling drugs in its entire territory.

It is high time for the provincial and federal authorities to grapple with this menacing threat in the country and particularly in the vulnerable cities and towns on an emergency basis to save our young generation from the catastrophic consequences of drug addiction.

The author was a mem ber of the Foreign Service of Pakistan and he has authored two books.