Poppy fields in Shikarpur!

Quite encouraging in itself, though, may be the news report revealing the police haul of a number of poppy growers near Shikarpur (Sindh) and destruction of a poppy field, it is apt to leave many intrigued on one count or the other.
For one thing, the very existence of a poppy farm in an area far south of the traditional narcotic haven in the north-west tribal belt and neighbouring Afghanistan, may sound rather incredible.
While the police success in making the first discovery of the heroin-producing plants in the area is definitely laudable, it would give rise to many questions, the answers to which will be eagerly awaited.
First, was it a chance discovery or the culmination of an organised effort to unearth alternate locations following the big swoop of the past in the traditional areas?
Since an Anti-Narcotics Force official has been quoted as saying that the poppy crop covered an area of about eight acres, it would suggest some kind of a planned effort being made in that direction, with active ANF involvement.
It will be recalled that though Pakistan was declared "poppy-free" by the United Nations a few years ago, opium cultivation had resurfaced in the last couple of years in some parts of the tribal region, leading to revival of extensive efforts to reverse the disquieting trend.
Pakistan also joined an initiative with China, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan some two years ago, to smash heroin trafficking from Afghanistan following Kabul's move to destroy poppy fields.
While Pakistan has been a major drug trafficking route from Afghanistan, drug addiction happens to be a major problem in both the countries.
The annual reports of the International Narcotics Control Board reviewing the world's drug growth and consumption scene, offer enough indication of the changing trends in drug proliferation, thereby helping determine new guidelines to thwart the spread of the menace from promotional devices that the international mafia unceasingly keeps resorting to in an attempt to frustrate onslaughts against it.
This should underline the strong likelihood of a planned effort behind the anti-poppy drive in Shikarpur.
All in all, it is quote comforting to note a beginning in the success of the ongoing efforts for smashing poppy cultivation in Pakistan whenever and wherever it is found raising its head.
However, the existence of poppy crops in a new area like Shikarpur, should point to certain loopholes in the system of assessment and review of the situation of different crops in the province.
For had the vigilance been strictly carried out, the unprecedented poppy cultivation activity would not have gone unnoticed so far, the very thought of which should be quite disquieting in itself.
Now that evidence has surfaced of poppy cultivation travelling down to this province, it will be in the fitness of things for the agriculture department to take all kinds of preventive measures against its menacing spread.