Vigilance teams to prevent drug abuse on campuses

Senate panel okays proposal to punish officials for registration of bogus cases

ISLAMABAD:

The Senate Standing Committee on Narcotics Control on Wednesday approved the formation of vigilance committees to prevent the use and supply of drugs in educational institutions and the inclusion of the proposal to impose five years imprisonment on officials, involved in the registration of a false drug case, in the Control of Narcotics Substance (Amendment) Bill, 2022.

The meeting of the Senate panel was held under the chair of Senator Ijaz Chaudhry. Expressing displeasure over the non-participation of relevant authorities including the secretary of the ministry of narcotics control, the committee chairman issued orders to the joint secretary to inform in writing in the next meeting why the officers do not attend the committee meeting.

In the meeting, two amendment bills on the control of narcotics, presented by senators Mohsin Aziz and Rana Maqbool were discussed and it was decided to form vigilance/discipline committees to prevent the use and supply of drugs in educational institutions.

The committee also decided to include the proposal to punish the officials, involved in the registration of a false drug case, with five-year imprisonment in the Control of Narcotics Substance (Amendment) Bill, 2022.

An interesting situation arose in the committee meeting when Senator Mohsin Aziz asked the ANF officials whether they were satisfied with the drug situation in the educational institutions.

The ANF officer replied that it could be one to two per cent in educational institutions. At this, the senator interrupted him, saying it was not the case at all. “Now children studying in educational institutions have also started using drugs to get good results,” Senator Aziz said.

The senator asked the authorities to strengthen the lawmakers so that the future could be secured.

Regarding the demand for budget for 2023-24 projects in various cities including Islamabad, the ANF officials said that the work on the ANF rehabilitation centre in Islamabad was going on for which more budget was being sought.

Similarly, the ANF official said, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) was giving land for a separate rehabilitation centre for women and children in Islamabad.

“Rs10 million have been sought [for the establishment of the rehabilitation centre]. Rs11 million for the Regional Directorate, Islamabad; Rs19 million for the accommodation of staff in Sindh, Rs29 million for Balochistan and Rs450 million have been sought for police stations in Panjgur,” the officials explained.

About the ANF personnel taking bribes at Islamabad Airport and the viral video, the ANF officials told the committee that three ANF personnel, including shift in-charge Gohar Rehman, Lance Naik Atif and Constable Asim were found involved in the incident.

A fact-finding committee headed by a grade-20 officer was formed to inquire into the incident. However, the suspects termed the video as tampered, at which its forensics was gotten conducted by the Federal Investigation Agency and the video turned out to be genuine. As a result, all three officials were found guilty in the inquiry and were accordingly punished.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th, 2023.