Balochistan Assembly session: Poppy cultivation, 120 heroin factories in Qila Abdullah, says minister

District is infamous for open sale of hashish, no action despite presence of law enforcers.

QUETTA:

The Balochistan Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution demanding the government end poppy cultivation on thousands of acres of irrigated land in Qila Abdullah district, which shares a border with Afghanistan.

Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) leader and provincial minister Dr Hamid Achakzai tabled the resolution in the house, saying that poppy is being cultivated with impunity. “Qila Abdullah is notorious for the open sale of hashish. There are around 120 heroin factories in the district,” he stated in the resolution.

Dr Achakzai said the police, Frontier Corps (FC), the Anti-Narcotics Force and even Pakistan Army are present in Qila Abdullah but still this illegal business is thriving.

In the resolution, he demanded the Balochistan government take strict action against the anti-social elements involved in this crime. “The government should not compromise and take stern action.”

All legislators voiced their concern over the issue and backed the resolution. The PkMAP ministers demanded the government ban poppy cultivation in the district.

For a higher education university complex

The house also unanimously adopted a resolution, demanding the provincial government set up a university complex in Naseerabad division in order to provide the local youth with higher education.

Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid members Mir Izhar Hussain Khosa, Abdul Majid Abro and Nawabzada Tariq Magsi jointly moved the resolution. They said the government should pay special attention towards improving quality education in the province. It is unfortunate that there are no facilities of higher education in Naseerabad Division, which includes Dera Murad Jamali, Jhal Magsi, Usta Mohammed, Dera Allahyar, Gandawa, Jaffarabad, Bolan and Subatpur. Although the division is comparatively better in terms of irrigation, education is in doldrums.

Another resolution was unanimously adopted, demanding the improvement of Quetta’s infrastructure to mitigate the city’s traffic problems.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 30^th, 2014.