ISLAMABAD, Feb 23: Expressing its deep concern over continuous high prevalence of drugs and narcotics in the society, the Senate Standing Committee on Narcotics Control has directed the interior ministry, Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) and other concerned government agencies to redouble their efforts to create a drug-free society in the country with a view to securing future for the youth.

The committee, which met here on Saturday under the chairpersonship of Senator Kalsoom Parveen, underscored the need to employ a multi-pronged strategy for effecting and simultaneously pursuing preventive and rehabilitative strategies to achieve better results.

The committee asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the ANF to ensure posting of ‘drug liaison officers’ in the countries whose nationals have been found to be involved in drug trafficking like Nigeria, Tanzania and Ethiopia.

Senator Enver Baig and some other members of the committee drew attention of the chairperson towards the fact that a large number of Nigerian nationals had been caught in the country on drug charges during recent years and their number was still increasing, expressing their surprise why the Foreign Office was not taking up the matter at the government level.

They said fake documents were being presented at a time of visa interviews in the absence of a proper mechanism to get these counter-checked from Pakistani and Nigerian chambers of commerce.

These Nigerian nationals, they added, continued to loiter on our streets endangering the lives of the people once they have served the sentences awarded to them by the courts on drug- related charges.

These persons are even being spotted in many areas of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. They wondered “why these criminals are not deported to their countries immediately”.

As a consequence, the country is getting a bad name in media across the world, which prompted the European countries to deny visas to genuine Pakistani businessmen and other nationals.

The Senate committee has underlined the need to launch an aggressive campaign through the media to enhance the level of public awareness on the issue. It also called for vigorously pursuing the cases of drug barons in the courts for awarding exemplary punishments to them.

“Weak following and legal lacunas are benefiting the criminals,” it observed. “The future of our younger generation is at stake and we cannot afford to be complacent,” said the committee members.

The Senate body also expressed its concern over easy availability of drugs and narcotics at Mazaars and shrines especially during the period of Urs of that particular Sufi or Saint.

The committee endorsed the ANF’s plea for more funds and additional manpower to effectively discharge the responsibility entrusted to it by the government. The committee commended the agency’s role in curbing drug flow to countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait owing to the efforts of the ANF, which has also been acknowledged by their respective governments.

The committee was apprised on the system in place to check illegal entry of narcotics in the country encompassing information like details of persons/firms to whom no-objection certificates had been issued so far for import of Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK), persons who were convicted for their involvement in the business of drugs and whose properties were confiscated and auctioned by the Ministry of Narcotics Control and the ANF.

The issue of pre-curst chemicals also figured prominently during the meeting and it was emphasised that the use should be restricted to industry only. The committee offered ‘Fateha’ for late Senator Sarwar Khan Kakar and prayed for his eternal salvation.

The meeting was attended, among others, by senators Tahira Latif, Abdul Raziq, Mir Israrullah Khan and Abdul Rahim Khan Mandokhail. Senator Enver Baig attended the meeting as mover.

Senior officials of the Ministry of Narcotics were also present on the occasion.

Meanwhile, the Senate Standing Committee on Law, Justice, Human Rights and Parliamentary Affairs held its meeting here under the chairmanship of Senator Dr Khalid Ranjha and discussed various aspects of the Private Member’s Bill titled “The Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Bill 2004” introduced by Senator Kamran Murtaza in the Senate.

The meeting proposed that in the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860 (Act No. XLV of 1860), in Section 331, after sub-section (2), the following new proviso may be added:

“Provided that where a convict is under detention to pay Diyat only and is not able to do so or to furnish the security, and is under detention for a period exceeding one-fourth of the maximum term of imprisonment provided for the offence, he may be released on such terms and conditions which the court may deem fit, as prescribed under the rules made under section 338 G.”

Speaking on the occasion the mover of the Bill, Senator Kamran Murtaza while outlining the objectives and reasons of the Bill said that throughout the country a number of people had served the sentences awarded to them but were under detention due to non-payment of Diyat amount because of poverty, which is against the norms of social justice so the PPC needs to be amended and a provision is to be added to Section 331 (2) to give relief to such persons thus enabling them to be part of the society.

The bill seeks to provide relief to such persons, he added. In the proposed amendment, it was also recommended that the federal government should, by a notification in the Official Gazette, establish a fund to be called the Diyat, Arsh and Daman Fund.

The meeting was attended, among others by Senators Ms Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli, Chaudhry Muhammad Anwar Bhinder, Mrs Nilofar Bakhtiar, S.M. Zafar, Abdul Ghaffar Qurreshi, Abdul Razak A. Thahim, Prof Mohammad Ibrahim Khan, Kamran Murtaza and senior officials of the Ministry of Law and Justice.