Annie was 29 years old when her husband died of excessive alcoholism. Marylin’s younger brother died of mouth cancer last year. Uncle Ryer’s son sniffs drugs for lack of other hobbies.
Scarcely anyone in Azam Basti, where 60 per cent of the population is Christian, has remained untouched by the long reaching effects of gutka, drugs and alcohol.
While the police whose jurisdiction the area falls in claims that it has been doing its best to clamp down on the freely sold drugs and alcohol in the area, the inhabitants think otherwise. Fed up of losing their loved ones, especially young boys, to the drug culture, they seized the occasion of International Anti-Torture Day as an opportunity and took to the streets. However, their protest outside the Karachi Press Club last week dissolved into the humid air of the city like it has so many times before.
Mehmood, a resident of Azam Basti, told The Express Tribune that the prevalence of drugs in their locality is increasing by the day, especially among the younger generation.
“There is a never ending supply of raw liquor, heroin called white powder, charas as well as gutka,” he said. According to him, even women are becoming addicted to gutka, paan and chaalia.
The Christian community in the basti complains that the drug culture is fed by unemployment. The young people are lured into all that these drugs offer because they have little else to do.
“My son is only 22 and he puffs white powder,” Uncle Ryer said, “How can we help our children when they have no jobs and no future insurance,” he complained.
Ryer felt that the basti is neglected because it is populated by a minority community. “We have seen almost 25 deaths due to drug overdose and excessive use in the past few years,” he said, “Now our religious leaders have started preaching among the youth about the effects of drugs.”
Ever since her brother died, Marilyn, too, has been busy trying to raise awareness about the issue. However, she explained, the network of suppliers is very strong and there is no support from the authorities. “It is such a deeply entrenched business,” she said, “Riots, bomb blasts, fights - how is it that this business is not affected by anything?”
Her brother had been chewing local gutka for five years before he died of mouth cancer, leaving behind a wife, a mother and four children who have no male supporter to earn for them anymore.
Residents complain there is no clampdown on drug pushers by the police. They also feel that if the business has been continuing unabated, the authorities must be patronising it.
“There is never a shortage of drugs in our area for those who use them,” commented an angry resident, requesting anonymity. “How is it that police officers are aware enough to take bhatta from all fruit cart vendors but they don’t know about the drug dealing behind their police station?” he asked sarcastically, referring to the area behind the station that has become a notorious, and quite overt, hub of such activities.
However, the Mehmoodabad SHO, Ghulam Nabi Afridi, said that the area is completely free of any crime. “It’s washed clean of all these activities,” he said.
He said that while Chanesar Goth in Mehmoodabad has presented difficulties, other areas such as Azam Basti have been cleared of drug dealers since he took up charge of the station. “I caught the two chief suppliers in the area,” he said, adding that he really could not do much about the drug addicts though. “As compared to what exists in some goths of the UC, this is a small crime,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 1st, 2010.
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