Task force to combat drugs on campus

Sindh Assembly panel suggests inclusion of police, parents on panel to thwart drugs on campus

KARACHI:

The Sindh Assembly Standing Committee on Home Department has decided to establish a task force to tackle drug use in educational institutions across the province.

The decision was made during a meeting chaired by Committee Chairperson Faryal Talpur and attended by officials from the education and home departments.

Education Minister Sardar Ali Shah, Advisor to CM on Law Barrister Murtaza Wahab, Excise and Narcotics Control Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla, Member Standing Committee on Home and Standing Committee on School Education Syed Zia Abbas, Sindh IGP and other officials participated in the meeting.

The meeting also decided to increase efforts to monitor habitual criminals by electronically tagging them with tracking bracelets.

Participants expressed concern about the growing prevalence of drug use in schools and colleges and the seeming indifference of parents and schools.

Out of the estimated nine million drug addicts in the country, approximately two million are believed to be between the ages of 15 and 25, officials told the meeting.

Talpur suggested that a task force comprising various stakeholders should oversee the crackdown against drug suppliers and devise strategies to combat the problem.

Education Minister Sardar Husain Shah proposed a mechanism to monitor students suffering from substance abuse and emphasised the need to closely monitor the police and lower staff who might be susceptible to bribery and corruption. He called for counseling rather than shaming the young drug abuse victims.

The meeting also decided to start the awareness campaign in the educational institutions against the drugs.

A plan of action to curb drug use in educational institutions was also discussed and it was decided that the police would work with parents and private school association management to control this nefarious business.

Adviser Law Barrister Murtaza Wahab said that if any legislation is to be enacted to eradicate the scourge of drugs, the law department will do so.

IGP Ghulam Nabi Memon assured the meeting that he would fully support for the cause and would nominate component officers to be part of the task force and to take action against the drug mafia. "We are now registering the habitual criminals through e-tagging and will monitor their activities. This will contain the street crime and help in tracing the activities of criminals involved in drug business," Memon said.

IG Sindh also said that cells have been established for the protection of women and children in twelve districts of the province. He cells will provide legal as well as physical protection to the victims of domestic and gender based violence.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2023.