Meeting of senate standing committee on narcotics control held at old pips hall, parliament lodges on Wednesday with Senator Ejaz Ahmed Chaudhary in chair

Islamabad, February 08, 2023 (PPI-OT):The Senate Committee unanimously passed two Bills titled as “Control of Narcotics Substances (Amendment) Bill, 2022” and “Control of Narcotics Substance (Amendment) Act, 1997”. Senator Mohsin Aziz, mover of the bill titled as “Control of Narcotics Substances (Amendment) Bill, 2022”, claimed that primary objective of the bill is eradication of drugs from educational institutions.

The Bill made it compulsory for all educational institutions to form a ‘Disciplinary Committee’ with representatives of Law Enforcement Agencies as it’s member with a mandate to carry out inspections on regular basis in universities premises and the Disciplinary Committee will also be accountable for its implementation.

However, Senator Rana Maqbool Ahmed, mover of bill titled “Control of Narcotics Substance (Amendment) Act 1997”, reiterated that aim of the bill is to abate the victimisation of private individuals on malafide charges doctored by their political opponents. Therefore, the committee passed the Bill with minor amendments.

While discussing the efforts of ANF officials towards the drugs eradication, ANF officials informed the committee that 80 pc of world opium is produced in neighbour country and around 40 pc of that production is being transported through Pakistan and the neighbour country is also a major player in production of synthetic drugs. However, in recent period the ANF has seized 117 metric ton drugs in which 1516 persons were arrested against the 1582 registered cases.

Moreover, 303 cases have been registered against persons who conducts drugs trafficking through air crafts and in which 324 accused were arrested and 0.24 metric ton drug has been seized. However, as to matter of viral video of ANF officials involved in bribery at Islamabad Airport.

Officials apprised that the disciplinary action has been taken and all the three accused have been penalised. The Chairman Committee appreciated the efforts of ANF in their pursuit of drugs control and suggested that the ANF should left no stone unturned in this sacred quest.

Furthermore, the senate body was briefed about the annual budget for Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) for financial year 2023-24. Officials of ANF apprised the committee that seven new Projects which includes Acquisition of Land for Construction of Rehab and Vocational Training Centre for Women and Children Drug Addicts Islamabad, Construction of ANF Regional Directorate Islamabad, Construction of Additional Block on SM Barrack Korangi Karachi, Construction of ANF Regional Directorate Quetta, Construction of AnF Police Station Panjgur, Construction of ANF Special Investigation Cell Islamabad, Extension of ANF Academy Islamabad and one ongoing project have been enlisted for this year and a initial cost of these projects is around Rs. 3568.699 Million.

The meeting was attended by Senator Falak Naz, Senator Rana Maqbool Ahmed, Senator Anwar Lal Dean, Senator Mohsin Aziz, Joint Secretary for Ministry of Narcotics Control Sikander Jalal and other senior officers of ministry and Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) were also in attendance.

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