Balochistan, which share borders with Iran and Afghanistan, has quietly functioned as one of the main arteries through which Afghanistan’s massive opium crop reaches the outer world. Six of the nine major drug trafficking routes from Afghanistan transit through Balochistan en route to Iran, Europe, Asia, Africa and North Aemerica. Chief Secretary Balochistan Captain (R) Fazeel Asghar has directed all Deputy Commissioners to take effective measures to eradicate hemp and poppy cultivation in the province. He added that, in some districts, hemp cultivation has begun, they should be demolished after being identified working along with anti-narcotics within 15 days. The Chief Secretary said that the drug maker factories in the province should be searched and demolished immediately and all the Deputy Commissioners in their respective districts should identify the areas on which hemp and poppy are cultivated on the acreage and collect their information and share them with Chief Secretary’s Office and Anti-Narcotics. He directed to lodge an FIR against the one involved in this illegal business with severe legal action. Poppy was cultivated by a very powerful man.  The levy personnel informed the highest authority who led the force to destroy the poppy fields for the first time in history. The area under poppy cultivation can only be found by the Levies as all other intelligence agencies could not imagined finding the field in the remote area hardly visited by a Deputy Commissioner or senior police officer.

As an effect, millions of our youth were also addicted to heroin as it was made available in local markets. The heroin dens were patronized by the law enforcing agencies and mainly the local police as a source of regular and illicit income for the corrupt and dishonest. Balochistan have long struggled with the narcotics’ scourge, particularly the use of heroin and opium. According to an ANF representative, all drugs produced in Afghanistan were smuggled through Balochistan to Iran and other countries along the route. Balochistan is strategically important, but it is also strategically vulnerable. This is something those who profits from the illicit trade are well aware of vulnerabilities are easily exploited, and power vacuums filled anywhere a quick buck is to be made. According to the UN report revealed that leaving aside 19th century China, which had a population at that time 15 times larger than today’s Afghanistan, no other country in the world had ever produced narcotics on such a deadly scale, However, poppy harvesting had become the main source of income for many local farmers.

Perhaps it was due to the lack of vigilance and close monitoring by the government. There are no two opinions that the drug money is involved in all acts of terrorism in Pakistan or elsewhere in the region. However, some seasoned observers were found firm in their belief that foreign and hostile security agencies are also involved in funding the terrorists in order to destabilize Pakistan. There is no serious effort is being undertaken by these scholars to prevent the students from engaging in poppy harvesting in Helmand and Kandahar. If Incumbent Government succeeds in curbing the drug peddling and check smuggling of narcotics to international market, the Government and its institutions will be able to win the war against terror by more than 50 per cent or more. The Provincial Government should check smuggling of narcotics from Afghanistan to Pakistan, mainly in the bordering areas of Balochistan so that availability of drug money is stopped and terrorists should not get any fund or resources to continue their fight against the humanity as a whole. Similarly, the local outlets of heroin and other narcotics in squatter settlements of all the major cities should be closed ensuring that the dishonest police or local official should not patronize the narcotic dens in any part of Pakistan. Policing in the squatter settlements should be beefed up and honest officials on the top should supervise anti-narcotic operations all over Balochistan.