Punjab’s narcotics problem is severe and well-documented, and no one disputes that the State must confront it through strong, coordinated and lawful mechanisms. What is now in question, however, is which institution is actually responsible for narcotics enforcement, and whether the province’s law-enforcement ecosystem is being reshaped by force rather than by mandate.
The Punjab Crime Control Division (CCD) was set up as a specialised policing unit to assist operations against violent offenders, habitual criminals, and organised crime elements that regular policing struggled to contain. Its mandate is crime control in the conventional sense: supporting police investigations, reinforcing operations in high-risk areas, and helping apprehend dangerous individuals. It was not established as a narcotics enforcement body. Despite this, CCD recently announced that it would “clean Punjab of narcotics within 72 hours,” a proclamation that effectively placed it at the centre of a domain legally assigned to other institutions. Following this announcement, CCD publicly claimed that they had killed some drug dealers during its operations, alongside some arrests. These figures and characterisations were CCD’s own statements, as no independent, publicly available documentation has yet detailed the legal proceedings, evidence, or circumstances behind each encounter.
The issue is not whether the problem of narcotics should be confronted firmly; it must be. The issue is whether a unit acting outside its defined mandate can do so without compromising legality, accountability and long-term strategy. Narcotics enforcement in Punjab, as in the rest of the country, is intended to be led by dedicated institutions such as the Counter Narcotics Force (CNF), which was created specifically to investigate drug networks, trace routes, disrupt supply chains and build prosecutable cases. The CNF’s mandate includes intelligence-led tracking, inter-provincial coordination and dismantling financial and logistical structures underpinning the drug trade.
Yet, in Punjab, the CNF’s visibility is minimal. There is little public awareness of its work, and its operational footprint is not widely known. Into this vacuum, CCD has expanded its role in a way that has raised legitimate concerns about jurisdiction and overreach.
Narcotics enforcement in Punjab, as in the rest of the country, is intended to be led by dedicated institutions such as the Counter Narcotics Force (CNF), which was created specifically to investigate drug networks, trace routes, disrupt supply chains and build prosecutable cases.
Narcotics trafficking is not a street-level phenomenon that collapses with the removal of a few vendors. It is an industry-like ecosystem, with financiers, transporters, handlers, distributors and local operatives working in tiers. Street-level sellers are the most visible but also the most replaceable actors. Targeting them without building upstream intelligence does not weaken the infrastructure of the narcotics trade; it risks preserving it. The effectiveness of narcotics enforcement depends on strategy, not spectacle, on tracing networks, not eliminating their lowest rungs.
CCD has stated that its recent actions were aimed at immediate deterrence, but deterrence alone cannot substitute for long-term disruption. Pakistan’s policing framework is predicated on clear institutional roles, which allow specialised units to develop expertise and accountability mechanisms tailored to their mandate. When those roles blur, when one unit expands into the jurisdiction of another, the system becomes less coherent, less transparent and ultimately less effective.
Punjab needs narcotics enforcement that is robust and lawful, assertive and institutionally grounded. That requires empowering and activating the CNF to carry out the work it was created to do, while allowing CCD to return to fulfilling its defined responsibilities. Public safety cannot hinge on improvised authority or parallel policing structures. Narcotics can only be defeated through institutions, not through institutions redefining themselves for publicity.
The writer is a former State Minister for Education and Professional Training, former Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan, Chairperson of the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme and Director at Media Times.