Sanaullah's involvement in drug trade: let court decide the matter, says ANF chief

Director General (DG) Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) Major General Muhammad Arif Malik on Friday said that the case against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Rana Sanullah, who was arrested for his alleged involvement in drug business, is before the court and let the court decide the matter.
Talking to media persons after the meeting of Senate Standing Committee on Narcotics Control, he said, "Either you accept what has been produced before the court or prove it wrong with evidence. The case is before the court and let the court decide the matter. If the court proves it as a wrong case then you can say that the case was initiated with mala fide intention."
An ANF team had arrested Sanaullah when he was on his way to Lahore from Faisalabad on Motorway at around 3:00pm at Sukheyki on July 1. He is kept at Camp Jail in Lahore after he was granted a 14-day judicial remand by a district court. Earlier, during the meeting which was presided over by Senator Sardar Muhammad Shafiq Tareen, Secretary Ministry of Narcotics Control Amjad Javed Saleemi said that total number of drugs addicts in Pakistan is around 4.5 million while there are only 3,000 rehabilitation centres in the country. He said that his ministry has started collecting data of rehabilitation centres working in different parts of the country.
He also briefed the committee about new appointments in ANF in detail. "ANF had requested the Prime Minister through a summary for appointment of 10,000 personnel. The Prime Minister had approved the appointment of 10,000 personnel in different phases in four years," he said, adding that the Prime Minister had approved 1,180 appointments in 2018-19, 3000 in 2019-20, 3,000 in 2020-21 and 2,820 in 2021-22.
The secretary said that following the objections of bureaucracy, the application had been returned back. The DG ANF told the committee that since 2007 the total strength of ANF has been 3,148. "The population has increased manifold since 2007 therefore there is dire need to increase strength of ANF," he said.
On this the committee recommended the government to increase strength of ANF as per their demand on immediate basis. Senator Lieutenant General Abdul Qayyum (retd) said that this is very unfortunate that bureaucrats are creating hurdles in the strengthening of ANF. He said that the government needs to approve increase in strength of ANF on immediate basis in order to control the menace of drugs. He further said that in some universities not only students but teachers are also drug addicts.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad Muhammad Aamir Zulfiqar said that police have taken effective steps to control drugs selling in educational institutions as well as the city. "During various operations, police have arrested 1,250 drug peddlers and registered 1,112 cases," he said, adding that there is a dire need to increase the number of rehabilitation centres.
He also suggested to constitute an inter-ministerial committee headed by Ministry of Narcotics Control. "Ministry of Religious Affairs has launched a campaign against drug abuse from religious prospective," he said.