RAWALPINDI, Feb 22: The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) has said the rate of heroin abuse remained relatively stable in Pakistan despite the massive increase in illicit opium and heroin production in neighbouring Afghanistan.

However, increase in abuse of opium and other opiates has offset the declining rate, the INCB revealed in its annual report for 2008 released on Saturday.

The report said the increase in drug abuse by injection was also a matter of concern; as currently there were an estimated 130,000 people abusing drugs by injection in Pakistan, twice the number in 2000.There is an HIV epidemic among persons who abuse drugs by injection, the infection rate being approximately 11 per cent. The report also referred to a recent government survey which showed that Pakistan also had a high rate of abuse of opiates. The estimated prevalence of such abuse among the population is 0.7 per cent. There were some 640,000 people in Pakistan in 2006 who regularly abuse opiates. Of those persons, 484,000 or 77 per cent were believed to abuse heroin.

The INCB report said Pakistan continued to be used as a major transit area for Afghan opiates, though to a lesser extent than Iran.

Pakistan said 35 per cent of opiates of Afghan origin are smuggled through its territory. In February last year, authorities in Pakistan seized four tons of opium in a single operation in mountainous areas of the Pishin district in Balochistan.

On the production side, the report said the illicit opium poppy cultivation in Pakistan was on a much smaller scale than in Afghanistan, but it appeared to be increasing.

The Pakistan government remains determined to eradicate illicit opium poppy cultivation, but most of that cultivation takes place in remote areas near the Afghan border, where the government has difficulties in enforcing national laws, the report stated.

About the overall situation in South Asia, the report said there were signs of increased trafficking in amphetamine-type stimulants and their precursor chemicals throughout the region.

Large seizures made in the region in recent years pointed to the emergence of an illicit market for those substances; however, those seizures could also indicate that South Asian countries were being used as transit areas between manufacturing hubs in East Asia and the rapidly growing illicit markets on the Arabian Peninsula.

There are fears that the widespread availability of amphetamine-type stimulants may fuel an increase in the abuse of those substances in South Asia.

Recent survey data from several South Asian countries indicate that the HIV transmission rate is still high among persons who abuse drugs by injection.

According to the report, Afghan opiates are smuggled mainly through Iran, Pakistan and countries in Central Asia into countries in Eastern and Western Europe. That large scale smuggling of Afghan opiates has resulted in a wide range of social ills, including organised crime, corruption and high illicit demand for opiates.

New routes for trafficking in drugs, including heroin from countries outside West Asia, appear to be opening through countries on the Arabian Peninsula. The new routes lead through countries such as Jordan, Syrian and the United Arab Emirates.

Despite the fact that trafficking through Central Asia remains at a high level, cooperation among the governments of Central Asian countries is improving, with more joint efforts against trafficking taking place on both a bilateral and multilateral basis, the report noted.

Countries in West Asia are working to establish the Gulf Centre for Criminal Intelligence in Doha. The centre will serve as a focal point for international cooperation in the collection of information and development of intelligence to counter drug trafficking and other serious forms of organised crime.

Representatives of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, the three countries of the Triangular Initiative, a framework for stopping drug trafficking from Afghanistan, have agreed to appoint border liaison officers to plan joint operations targeting the smuggling of opiates out of Afghanistan.