IN a welcome development, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has ordered massive crackdown against drug dealers outside educational institutions. The CM has asked police to take indiscriminate action against such elements in close coordination with anti-narcotics force as they are killing our future generations.
There are credible reports of increasing narcotics business around educational institutions as drug mafia has gained a stronghold not just in major cities and towns but also in Islamabad. Hundreds of students have fallen prey to drug addiction due to easy availability of narcotics in schools, colleges and universities. The situation has reached such an alarming proportion that the Supreme Court too took notice and sought reports from provinces on measures being taken to curb the menace. However, so far nothing concrete has emerged and there are reasons to believe that the loathsome business is going on with full connivance of police. According to reports, some students are also becoming part of the criminal gangs involved in supplying drugs in the premises of various institutions. Tablets of ecstasy, hashish, charas, heroin, marijuana and other imported high-end drugs are in high demand. Parents and serious minded students have long been raising hue and cry over growing drug addiction in educational institutions but authorities paid only lip service to campaign against such elements. Former Interior Minister Ch Nisar Ali Khan also committed himself to eliminating the menace from educational institutions of Islamabad but his failure to achieve the objective speaks volumes about the reach and influence of drug dealers and smugglers. It was also claimed that ANF Intelligence has deployed special surveillance teams and informers to monitor activities of the gangs operating in Rawalpindi and Islamabad but the business goes on as usual. Apart from urban areas, the drugs are reportedly also being sold to students in schools and colleges of rural areas. It is good of the Punjab Chief Minister that he has ordered a crackdown but this time it should be genuine and sustained to achieve the desired results. The situation would not change until and unless exemplary punishment is awarded to drug dealers, whose identification and activities are well known to local police.
