ANF reviews steps to combat drug trafficking

Anti Narcotics Force held Force Commanders Conference at Headquarters ANF Rawalpindi under the chairmanship of Director General Major General Musarrat Nawaz Malik HI (M). Force Commanders of all ANF Regional Directorates and Senior Staff Officers attended the conference. Progress on counter narcotics operations, international commitments, drug prevention and awareness programs, and treatment of drug addicts at ANF drug treatment centres was comprehensively reviewed during the conference.
Current drug situation and emerging tendency towards use of synthetic drugs were also analyzed. Director General showed satisfaction on the overall organizational performance of ANF. During the conference, exceptionally stringent measures were recommended against drug use in educational institutions. Director General ANF directed to accelerate the ongoing nationwide drive for apprehension of elements involved in distribution of drugs in educational institutions.
DG ANF emphasized on strict checking of International Flights at all airports. He directed the force to deal with the main smugglers of narcotics with iron hands. He also directed to come hard on absconders and proclaimed offenders in drug offences, and emphasized on taking proactive and innovative steps to curb the drug trafficking and apprehension of sources of drug supply.
Spokesman for ANF said that besides, aspects related to enforcement, intelligence, assets investigation, prosecution, mass awareness, finance, administration and infrastructure development were discussed at length, while futuristic goals were also set-forth with special focus on undertaking fresh initiatives and capacity building plan The Secretary, Ministry of Narcotics Control also chaired a meeting of the Provincial Secretaries Health Services and Secretaries, Excise, Taxation and Narcotics Control regarding drug use and spreading of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis B & C by the Injecting Drug Users (IDUs) at the Ministry of Narcotics Control.
Representatives from all the provinces including AJ&K, FATA Secretariat and Anti-Narcotics Force attended the meeting. The meeting was the first of its kind after the 18th Amendment. The purpose of the meeting was to develop a more coordinated approach towards the control of drug usage, spreading of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis through injectable drug use and further the rehabilitation of the drug addicts. The meeting was informed that the National Anti-Narcotics Policy was formulated in 2010 and it has to be revised after every 05 years.
The Secretary, Ministry of Narcotics Control also apprised about the revision of the Anti-Narcotics Policy, which is in process this meeting was meant to have input from the Provinces regarding formulation of the new National Anti-Narcotics Policy so that the provinces may formulate their own policies on the same pattern.
He referred to National Narcotics Control Committee (NNCC) meeting wherein a number of important decisions were taken. One of the decisions related to constitution of Provincial Narcotics Control Committee (PNCC), which needs to be activated and also the actions taken should be shared with the Ministry of Narcotics Control.
According to spokesman of the ministry, representatives of the provinces briefed the meeting about the initiatives taken by their respective provinces regarding narcotics control, HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis B&C treatment prevention. It was decided that follow up meetings on the matter would be regularly held in future.