Only 3 Centres, Functional For Rehabilitation Of 4.5mln Drug Addicts: National Assembly Body Told

The National Assembly's Standing Committee on Narcotics Control on Thursday was informed that only three drug rehabilitation centres were functional in public sector to treat thousands of drug addicts

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Oct, 2019 ) :The National Assembly's Standing Committee on Narcotics Control on Thursday was informed that only three drug rehabilitation centres were functional in public sector to treat thousands of drug addicts.

"Only three Model Addiction Treatment and Rehabilitation Centres (MATRCs) with 236-bed, are operating in different cities including Islamabad, Sukhur and Karachi which are not enough to rehab plethora of drug addicts," Minister for Narcotics Control Shehryar Khan Afridi told the committee which met here with Salahuddin Ayubi in the chair.

"Pakistan has some 4.5 million drug addicts," Secretary Ministry of Narcotics Control Amjad Javed Saleemi said, citing the report of United Nation Office on Drugs and Crime, published in 2013.

He said the ministry was planning to conduct a survey for building a database of drug addicts that would eventually help control drugs usage effectively.

Despite facing the shortage of resources, he said the Anti Narcotics Department (ANF) was taking tangible and concrete measures to control drug flow in the country.

A holistic approach was required to root out the menace of drugs from the country, he said, adding that the Ministry of education and Professional Training, Provincial Law Enforcement Agencies and other relevant stakeholders will have to play their due role in a war against drugs.

Saleemi said Pakistan's efforts against drugs had been appreciated globally despite the fact that its key drug controlling body had only 2,900 officials and 29 regional offices.

Member of National Assembly (MNA) Jamil Ahmed Khan, apprising the committee, pointed out the chronic problem of heroin, hashish and crystal in Malir and called for strict action to curb the trade of drugs.

Jamil said he had identified the drug peddlers in a letter, written to the ANF Director General (DG).

ANF Director Enforcement Brigadier Sagheer Kamran said a massive operation had been planned in Malir after the counter verification of the complaint. Some details could not be shared due to certain reasons, he added.

The proposed amendments in 'The Control of Norcotics Substance (Amendment) Bill, 2019 also came under discussion and a joint body, comprising the committee members, officials of the ministry and ANF, had also been formed to revisit the bill.

The committee was also given detailed briefing about 'Amaan' project, covering over 250 accredited sources of information across the globe to effectively fight narcotics and money laundering.

Highlighting salient features of world's largest Artificial Intelligence-driven database, Shehryar Khan Afridi said different law enforcement agencies across the world had shown keen interest in purchasing the data, including ex secretary-general of Interpol.

Shehryar said the project would fully enable Pakistan to identify the illegal transferred money in the drug trade. The data was updated in less than 10 minutes, he added.

Facial recognition and smart search had also been introduced in the system, he said.

The committee meeting was attended by MNAs including MohsinDaver, Andleeb Abbas, Uzma Riaz and officials of the Ministry ofNarcotics and ANF.