Inspector General of Police Punjab Shoaib Dastgir said that by ensuring permanent elimination of drugs dealers, future of young generation may be saved and it is among top priorities of Punjab Police and in this regard parents teachers educational institutions law enforcement agencies along with all stakeholders of civil society will have to pay their role so that accused involved in such cursed business may be put behind the bars and this curse may be rooted out.
He further said that for the permanent elimination of drugs from society police teams in all districts of the province are engaged and also with the cooperation and information sharing with other institutions, operations will be speeded up. He said that a timely step with mutual strategy is the need of the hour. He further said that all stakeholders are on board in order to break the chain of drugs supply and an effective awareness campaign is also necessary so that the public may be saved from irreparable losses. With this respect, Punjab police shall continue its effort to utilize all available resources. These views were expressed by him while addressing a high-level session held for the elimination of drugs in vicinity of educational institutions at Central Police Office. In the session, Prosecutor General Punjab Rana Arif Kamal Noon, Regional Director ANF Brigadier Rashid Minhas, Secretary Excise and Taxation Wajih Ullah Kundi, IG Prison Shahid Saleem Baig, Addl IG Investigation Fiaz Ahmad Dev, CCPO Lahore Zulfiqar Hameed, Secretary Higher Education Punjab Zulfiqar Ahmad Ghumman, Vice Chancellor UET Dr. Manzur Sarwar, Vice-chancellor Lahore College for Women University Dr. Bushra Mirza, Dr. Ahmad Adnan from Government College University, Professor Dr. Muhammad Shafiq from Punjab University, Dr. Allah Rakha from University of Health Sciences, Vice-Chancellor, Dr Abid Hassan Khan from University of Management Sciences, Dr. Muhammad Umar Saleem from the University of Education, Professor Ali Hashmi from King Edward Medical University and Maleeha Rashid form Home Department along with other senior officers and Directors of other educational and government departments were present.
During the session, breaking of the chain of drugs supply, the arrest of accused, eradication of networks, and issues faced in this regard were discussed at length and the participants of the session gave their suggestions and opinions. Addl IG Operations Inam Ghani while briefing about operations against drugs dealings during the one and half year across the province told that from 1st January 2109 to up till now in different operations in the province, cases have been registered against 56807 drugs dealers and overall from 57665 arrested accused, 1259 kg heroin and 23497 Kg chars have been recovered whereas, giving details about the operations in the vicinity of educational institutes he shared that during this time period, 838 cases have been registered in a campaign against drugs dealers and during intelligence based operations 875 accused have been arrested, 7.391 kg heroin and 529 kg chars have been recovered from them whereas regular operations are continued in this regard. During the session, participants shared their individual efforts to and also highlighted different issues whereas registration of private hostels, capacity building of officers and officials, holding of awareness seminars, mock exercises, responsibilities of teachers and parents and also role of law enforcement agencies, different aspects of the issue viewed in detail and suggestions and recommendations were also presented with this respect. The participants showed a consensus that the elimination of drugs from society is not only the job of law enforcement departments but also participation from all departments is required to get rid of this curse. During the session use of drugs by students under mental educational stress and attraction towards Ice as a fashion were also discussed. IG Punjab said that purpose of meeting to identify the problems and their timely addressal by carving out an action plan. In view of the sensitivity of the issue after three months, a mutual session of all departments shall also be held. He said that for preparing joint strategy and guidelines, all participants have been directed to send their recommendations in the light of observations.
