Rajan Gandhi
Money derived from the narcotic trade of Afghanistan’s poppy fields is the major source of terrorism funds for Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) to carry out its activities in J&K. The Kashmir valley region is a drug smuggling hotspot with gangs operating from both sides of the Line of Control (LOC), as a result, drugs like cannabis or opium are readily available. Drug supply was mostly carried out via the trading posts between India and Pakistan situated in J&K and Punjab border.
Recovery of 114 kilograms of brown sugar from the Salamabad Trade Facilitation Centre in January 2014 with half marked Afghani notes is not an isolated case as time to time consignments have been seized but to date, the recipients of the other halves of these severed Afghani notes have never been punished. NIA investigations and pressure by Army after 2016 Kashmir unrest , drug trade is not easy in Kashmir today and similarly after Pathankot airbase attack number of BSF officers were made accountable and further after assuming office, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had formed a Special Task Force (STF) to end drug mafia in the state resulting arrest of more than 1,400 persons and with 1,250 cases registered under the NDPS Act which has “choked” the trans-border and interstate-border drugs supply lines since March 2016 and smugglers have shifted entire focus to Jammu which is evident from recent large hauls of drugs seized and rackets busted. More than 600 persons have been arrested in 2017 as against arrest of 511 such people in 2016 and 307 in 2015.A total of 379 cases were registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act this year till the month of August , crossing the 377 cases registered in the entire 2016 and 275 such cases in the whole of 2015.What is even more worrying is the large haul of narcotic substances, including charas, brown sugar and heroine seized during the ongoing drive in the province with some of them have registered astonishing growth over five times, while some have swelled quantitatively by as much as 3800 Kilograms in two years. As per information shared by Jammu Police, in the first eight months of 2017- 568.94 kg of marijuana or charas was seized in Jammu region, over five times more than the seizure made in 2016. The quantity of charas recovered in 2015 was only 24.3 kg which reached 107 kg in 2016. The seized poppy straw recorded a remarkable increase at 5610 kg, which was 3268 kg in 2016 and 1846 kg in 2015.
Despite seizure of 968 quintals of narcotic drugs and about seven lakh intoxicants in the last 5/6 years, the problem has not received due attention of Investigators and the Prosecutors with the result that number of acquittals in such cases greatly outnumbered the convictions, as for every conviction there are about nine acquittals. Ultimately like in many other matters High Court intervened and in August 2017 it directed the State Government to “revisit the issue relating to control of drugs as per the experience gathered from other states and various international forums dealing with the control of drug addiction”. Division Bench further observed that any effort to improve investigation and prosecution in cases under NDPS Act would succeed only in case necessary mechanism is evolved on the basis of the statistics/data as regards the number of cases registered, volume and composition of contraband seized, number of samples of seized contraband referred to FSL for analysis, time taken by FSL to communicate analysis report to the investigating officer and the time taken for completion of the investigation and the results of investigation. To safe guard innocent, NDPS Act’s Sections 41,42, 43 and 50 are to be strictly followed by police but due to reasons best known to police they are not followed resulting in acquittals of the accused on technical grounds with no accountability of erring officials . Waking up to this wrap on the knuckles, Home Department issued a circular in September 2017 for SOPS for NDPS as case after case acquittal has forced State High Court to direct the state to file affidavit indicating the extent of narcotics drugs and psychotropic substances of all categories seized in the last 10 years in Jammu and Kashmir and about major routes through which these substances are brought in J&K and moved within the State. What is more worrying that this entire network cannot be established overnight without political and administrative patronage. Moreover it seems recent NIA investigations in the Valley have in fact unearthed the local nexus of narcotic activities as well and as such with clear directives from Central Government police has acted.
The unemployment rate in Jammu & Kashmir is 24.6 percent (in the age group of 18 to 29), nearly twice as much as the all India average of 13.2 percent for this age group. The drug-addiction in Jammu province is certainly on rise as statics reveal. Rehabilitation data shows that 86 percent of patients are aged below 35 years and now even schoolchildren, including girls, are being pulled into the cycle. Apart from the obvious socio-political disturbances in the region, there are the usual problems faced by teens and youth involving growing up pangs, broken relationships, academic failures, peer pressure, easy money availability, parental failure and the propagation of damaging information such as drugs bringing happiness and not being addictive, also play a huge role in the rise of drug abuse. Easy availability for drugs of various forms only adds to the problem. Jammu has a thriving drug smuggling system controlled from across the border; as a result, drugs like opium, cannabis etc. are freely available. Then there are the medical opiates like cough syrup, neuro-toxic tablets etc. that are available from chemist shops or spurious dealers and finally those who are desperate indulge in intake of Fevicol, thinner, glue sticks , shoe polish etc.
As usual our political class is mum on the issue which has gripped our Jammu to the core. It seems either our political class is unaware of the gravity of this menace or they are least bothered. The problem is of gigantic proportion for which administration has to pull up its socks with numerous corrective measures such as drastically increasing the number of de-addiction centres especially in the villages and remote areas where the menace is unchecked. There are so many facets of the problem like detoxification, relapse prevention, psychological counseling etc that need specialist intervention. At least basic knowledge has to be available with the doctors to deal with the problem. Serious cases have to be transferred immediately to urban centres that have advanced facilities. Assistance in this regard should be taken from security forces, especially the army, in view of their presence in the remote rural areas. The Primary Health Centres need trained doctors, as certain aspects of the de-addiction process-such as relapsing, prevention and psychological counseling- need a specialized approach. Cross-border drug supply has to be completely cut off. The trade routes which are being used in this manner need to be investigated and on no condition should goods be allowed to pass unchecked. The State Government needs to up their game in clamping down on internal supply routes used to carry drugs such as medical opiates. The punishment vested out to the offenders and the suppliers must be strong enough to discourage the crime along with fixing of accountability of erring officials as well. The common people need to be made aware of the consequences of drug use and made to understand that drug use is a problem which can be very well dealt with. The taboo associated with drug use must also be removed to enable a healthier de-addiction process.
The alarming rise in drug abuse in Jammu over the last decade if not dealt with quickly and efficiently will lead to serious social problems in the region in the coming years as happened in our neighboring Punjab. However, with the police and the army having come forward to tackle the issue we hope that a unified and cohesive approach will lead to a quick resolution. Residents of Jammu have overcome many odious situations in the past and hopefully the drug issue will also be dealt collectively with an iron hand.
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