Crackdown against drug peddlers demanded

People from different walks of life in Naushki demanded of the authorities to take action against drug traffickers and provide justice to the family of Samiullah Mengal who was killed by peddlers after he raised voice against them.

Last year, Samiullah, a student for BS in the Zoology department of the University of Balochistan, was attacked by unidentified men outside his home in the Qaziabad area of the town. He was running a campaign against drug peddlers.

Observing the first death anniversary of Samiullah on Saturday members of civil society, students, teachers and political workers participated in a memorial walk organized by Baloch Students Action Committee and Naushki Online.

The participants chanted slogans demanding justice for Samiullah by arresting his killers.

Samiullah had identified drug peddlers and the locations where narcotics were sold during a public hearing presided over by the Rakhshan Division commissioner around two months ago before his murder.

Addressing the participants of the walk, Professor Ghulam Dastgir Sabir, Aziz Jamaldini, Ghamkhwar Hayat, Abdul Wajid Mengal, Tayyab Yallanzai and others paid tribute to Samiullah for his struggle and campaign against the drug menace in Naushki and surrounding areas.

They alleged that drug smugglers attacked Samiullah’s house killing him in front of his mother. However, they regretted, the majority of the culprits were not arrested despite constant protests against the drug traffickers.

“The law enforcement agencies are not taking action against the drug peddlers resulting in increasing number of addicts and making some areas a shelter for the illicit business,” a speaker said.

He also demanded of the provincial government to build a drug treatment hospital for addicts in Naushki and adjoining districts.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8^th, 2021.