K-P Assembly: Narcotics control bill to abolish police role deferred
Proposed law would enable excise dept to conduct raids, seize drugs and carry out probe
PHOTO: REUTERS
PESHAWAR:
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser on Wednesday deferred a bill which seeks to abolish the police’s role in controlling narcotics in the province.
K-P Excise, Taxation and Narcotics Minister Mian Jamshed wanted the bill, The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Control of Narcotic Substances Bill 2017, to get a green light from assembly members as it was present on the day’s agenda.
According to sources in the Excise and Taxation and Narcotics department, the police are against the bill as they do not want the lucrative job to go to a narcotics control wing which will be established in the wake of the passage of the bill.
Police abhor ceding narcotics control job
The police high-ups were doing everything they could to get the bill delayed or changed in their favour, said the sources.
The bill will enable the Excise, Taxation and Narcotics department to not only seize the narcotics but also register cases against the culprits and carry out investigations. Currently, the department can only seize the narcotics after which they have to hand over the culprits and evidences to the police or the Anti-Narcotic Force (ANF).
The proposed narcotics control wing will have the same authority as the police, besides having the power to conduct raids at any house or building to seize drugs. The other law enforcement agencies in the respective areas will be required to assist investigators from the wing.
The government has recently included the drug ‘ice’ into the category of narcotics as it has just emerged and was not part of the list of contrabands.
Speaker Qaiser, meanwhile, insisted that the bill should be sent to the select committee, when Fakhr Azam Wazir of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) presented a few amendments to three clauses of the bill.
Jamshed, the excise minister, agreed to Wazir’s first amendment which said that the quantity of narcotics in possession eligible for punishment should be reduced to one gramme from the proposed 10 grammes.
Temperature sensitive: Improper handling of drugs now punishable offence
The speaker said, “I have received requests from concerned quarters regarding the bill and it should be sent to the select committee.”
However, the minister was not ready to pass the bill to the committee.
In the meanwhile, K-P government spokesperson Shah Farman highlighted the importance of the bill after which the speaker deferred it for some other day.
PDA gets legal status
The provincial government also granted legal status to the Peshawar Development Authority (PDA) after 15 years, by passing the Peshawar Development Authority (PDA) Bill, 2017.
The bill gives a legal and autonomous status to PDA while also providing legal cover to the actions of PDA directors general from 2002 to date.
The PDA lost its legal standing in 2002, when the then government promulgated the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Urban Development Board (Dissolution) Ordinance 2002, and its assets along with liabilities were transferred to K-P’s local government department.
The house also passed The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Public Health (Surveillance and Response) Bill, 2017 and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Public Private Partnership (Amendment) Bill, 2017.
All 38 lawmakers who were suspended by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), for failing to submit statements of their assets and liabilities, were not allowed to attend the session. The assembly staff was given a list of names of the suspended lawmakers so that they could be stopped at the entrance. The house also rejected the leave applications of the suspended lawmakers.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser on Wednesday deferred a bill which seeks to abolish the police’s role in controlling narcotics in the province.
K-P Excise, Taxation and Narcotics Minister Mian Jamshed wanted the bill, The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Control of Narcotic Substances Bill 2017, to get a green light from assembly members as it was present on the day’s agenda.
According to sources in the Excise and Taxation and Narcotics department, the police are against the bill as they do not want the lucrative job to go to a narcotics control wing which will be established in the wake of the passage of the bill.
Police abhor ceding narcotics control job
The police high-ups were doing everything they could to get the bill delayed or changed in their favour, said the sources.
The bill will enable the Excise, Taxation and Narcotics department to not only seize the narcotics but also register cases against the culprits and carry out investigations. Currently, the department can only seize the narcotics after which they have to hand over the culprits and evidences to the police or the Anti-Narcotic Force (ANF).
The proposed narcotics control wing will have the same authority as the police, besides having the power to conduct raids at any house or building to seize drugs. The other law enforcement agencies in the respective areas will be required to assist investigators from the wing.
The government has recently included the drug ‘ice’ into the category of narcotics as it has just emerged and was not part of the list of contrabands.
Speaker Qaiser, meanwhile, insisted that the bill should be sent to the select committee, when Fakhr Azam Wazir of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) presented a few amendments to three clauses of the bill.
Jamshed, the excise minister, agreed to Wazir’s first amendment which said that the quantity of narcotics in possession eligible for punishment should be reduced to one gramme from the proposed 10 grammes.
Temperature sensitive: Improper handling of drugs now punishable offence
The speaker said, “I have received requests from concerned quarters regarding the bill and it should be sent to the select committee.”
However, the minister was not ready to pass the bill to the committee.
In the meanwhile, K-P government spokesperson Shah Farman highlighted the importance of the bill after which the speaker deferred it for some other day.
PDA gets legal status
The provincial government also granted legal status to the Peshawar Development Authority (PDA) after 15 years, by passing the Peshawar Development Authority (PDA) Bill, 2017.
The bill gives a legal and autonomous status to PDA while also providing legal cover to the actions of PDA directors general from 2002 to date.
The PDA lost its legal standing in 2002, when the then government promulgated the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Urban Development Board (Dissolution) Ordinance 2002, and its assets along with liabilities were transferred to K-P’s local government department.
The house also passed The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Public Health (Surveillance and Response) Bill, 2017 and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Public Private Partnership (Amendment) Bill, 2017.
All 38 lawmakers who were suspended by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), for failing to submit statements of their assets and liabilities, were not allowed to attend the session. The assembly staff was given a list of names of the suspended lawmakers so that they could be stopped at the entrance. The house also rejected the leave applications of the suspended lawmakers.