Drug trafficking and terrorist trail
01 Dec, 2000 · 443
While pointing out the linkages between drug trafficking and terrorism, Wg Cdr NK Pant, suggests few pointers as to why it may be beneficial to cooperate with the US in this aspect
The Paris based Geopolitical Drug Watch has labeled Pakistan as a ‘narco state’, a nation in which drug barons collaborate closely with politicians, senior bureaucrats and armed forces officers. This illegal and clandestine business pumps more than $2 billion annually into
Pakistan
’s sinking economy. Hence it is not surprising that the State Bank of
Pakistan
reportedly bought over $1 billion from narcotics dealers in the preceding year proving that the government was openly using drug money to finance its operations. As tax collections have nose dived, the military regime had no alternative but to tap the lucrative international heroin trade
Pakistan
controls the distribution and sale of heroin which is processed in factories located in its North West Frontier Province (NWFP) run by drug barons belonging to the Pakistani Khattak and Afridi tribes. They have close ethnic links with poppy growers in the Taliban controlled
Afghanistan
. Incidentally, there is an Indian connection too – acetic anhydride, used in the conversion of morphine into heroin, is being smuggled from
India
to
Pakistan
, where the demand is obviously strong and profits are enormous.
Pakistan
and
Afghanistan
are smuggled into
Central Asia
, and then to
Russia
and
Europe
. The money laundered through the drug trade is funneled into unaccounted secret funds meant for arms procurement and support to terrorist groups in
Jammu and Kashmir
and elsewhere in
India
, but also to far off places like
Chechnya
and Kosovo.
Lahore
and
Delhi
is suspected to be a conduit for dispatching narcotic consignments, these are regularly being routed with arms, ammunition and RDX through the Line of Control, particularly via Ranbirsingh Pura, Samba, and Akhnoor sectors. This is proven by the fact that Indian security forces and customs officials have been making alarmingly large seizures of heroin and arms from these sectors, especially after the construction of security fence along the Rajasthan and
Punjab
borders which has made it difficult for smugglers to send their illicit merchandise through these states. The Pakistani drug lords also make use of scheduled commercial flights to
Nepal
and
Bangladesh
to land heroin and hashish in these countries from where it is sent to the Indian market through land routes. Another important hub for drug smuggling to
India
is
Karachi
, via the swampy
Kutch
coast in
Gujarat
state.
India
is flanked by the world’s two leading producers and exporters of heroin –
Pakistan
and the
Golden Crescent to the north-west, and
Myanmar
and the Golden Triangle in the east. While
Myanmar
is cooperating with the Indian authorities,
Pakistan
has covertly exploited the drug trade for its nefarious purposes. Militancy in the region is closely linked with heroin trafficking and is coordinated and financed with drug money laundered by
Islamabad
’s secret services. Terrorism has become synonymous with drug money and is playing an important geo-strategic role.
Pakistan
backed terrorist groups and their political front organizations of slush money. Renewed attention is therefore needed to strengthen the agencies engaged in narcotics control; This should include reorganizing the intelligence apparatus. Moreover, drug trafficking cannot be stemmed without international teamwork. President Clinton requested the Congress for 3.5 million dollars for narcotics control and law enforcement in
Pakistan
in his fiscal 2001 budget. Since the
United States
with its considerable experience and resources in dealing with illicit drug cartels globally opened a FBI office in
New Delhi
, it will be worthwhile for
India
to seek its assistance to combat this deep rooted scourge.
This year’s severe draught conditions on either side of the Durrand Line may adversely affect the opium crop in this tribal region resulting in a welcome drop in heroin production, bringing relief to the narcotics control agencies. Surveys put the current annual opium production at 1600 tonnes revealing a steep increase in the past few years.
The flow of narcotics starts from its main supply points in NWFP and Afghanistan to storehouses in Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Karachi and other trading centres for sale to an estimated 4 million indigenous drug addicts, but also by an efficiently organized export network to countries in the Middle East, Europe and the western hemisphere. Likewise, every year, tons of opium and heroin from
While the Samjhauta Express running between
Effective control over the booming illegal narcotics trade will starve the
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