Staff Correspondent
CHITRAL: There is a growing need to tighten the noose around drug peddlers in Chitral, where the use of narcotics, particularly the deadly drug known as ice (crystal methamphetamine), has increased at an alarming rate.
The growing menace has engulfed a significant number of young people, posing a serious threat to the social fabric of the region.
According to sources, Chitral police are conducting daily operations against drug traffickers and regularly sharing details of arrests on social media. While these efforts are encouraging, the drug trade continues unabated, and the supply chain remains active, highlighting the gravity of the situation.
Public and social circles have expressed serious concern that drug dealers are arrested but are often released on bail shortly afterwards, allowing them to resume their illegal activities.
They consider the repeated release of suspects a major concern, pointing to possible weaknesses in the investigation and prosecution processes that drug traffickers may be exploiting.
According to public representatives and social activists, the drug trade has evolved into an extensive and organised network. The arrest of an individual dealer does not bring the business to an end, as other members of the network continue operating.
The financial strength of these networks enables them to sustain their activities despite police action. This, they say, is one of the reasons why the drug trade appears to be expanding rather than declining.
Local elders maintain that the overall law and order situation in Chitral remains satisfactory. However, they believe that the biggest challenge currently facing the police in both Lower and Upper Chitral is the supply, trafficking and increasing consumption of narcotics.
They argue that conventional policing methods have not proved sufficient to tackle the menace and that a strategic shift in law enforcement’s approach has become essential.
Social circles have proposed ensuring active public participation in the fight against drugs. They have suggested establishing village-level committees on the pattern of the village defence committees previously formed to help maintain law and order.
Such committees could help monitor local activities and strengthen community-level efforts to prevent drug trafficking and consumption.
They further stressed that Chitral urgently needs a comprehensive action plan against narcotics, involving not only the police but also political and social organisations, the media and the Bar Association.
A coordinated approach involving all relevant stakeholders, they said, is essential for an effective and sustainable response.
Besides the police, other institutions, particularly the district administration, security agencies and the Excise Department, also have a crucial role to play. The need for these institutions to work together through coordinated and practical measures has become increasingly urgent.
Public and social circles have demanded concrete and coordinated steps to dismantle the drug supply chain at its source, arguing that controlling local trafficking and consumption will remain extremely difficult unless the wider supply network is effectively disrupted.
They have therefore called for decisive measures to stop the supply of narcotics to Chitral from other districts and for the immediate dismantling of local drug-trafficking networks.
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