Man reunites with family after four years

PESHAWAR:

Yet another drug addict who was successfully treated under the Drugs Free Peshawar Project has been reunited with his family.

Shahid Mehmood is a resident of Mandi Bahauddin who turned to drugs and left his family in August 2018.

“This man was arrested during a crackdown on drug addicts from Firdous Pattak area of Peshawar city and then sent to Al-Khidmat Rehabilitation Centre for treatment,” said an official of the district administration, adding that after his successful treatment his memory was also greatly restored and he was able to tell about his family and their address.

“The family was contacted and informed about Shahid Mahmood who initially didn’t believe it but then told us that they tried their level best to locate him in the past four years,” he added, saying that on Thursday his brother reached Peshawar to take him home.

Shahid Mahmood moved to Peshawar and was engaged in alms seeking as well as petty crimes to make money and arrange for drugs. “This man is from a very educated and well-off background but he became a drug addict. They don’t want any negative publicity and didn’t share details with us. His brother told us that their 76-year-old mother was waiting for his return for the past four years and the entire family was jubilant when it found out that Mahmood was alive,” he said.

Previously district administration helped a man from Azad Kashmir reunite with his family who had gone missing eight years ago.

Sarfaraz, a resident of Kashmir, went missing eight years ago and he had been declared dead by family after years of searching.

He was fortunate that on May 25 district administration of Peshawar launched an anti-drugs campaign under which drug addicts were rounded up and sent to rehabilitation centres. Sarfarz was also among those drug addicts arrested from various parts of the city and shifted to a rehab center.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 15^th, 2022.