It has also come into notice of the federal government that poppy cultivation has been made in Fata particularly those, which are adjacent to Afghanistan border, the sources revealed.
According to sources, the government has also asked the NWFP authorities as well as political agents to chalk out a comprehensive strategy for the total elimination of poppy in the province on emergent basis. The government has also asked them to take strict measures against the elements involved in the cultivation of the banned crop, despite repeated warnings in the past.
The sources also revealed that the government was also working on a plan to persuade the poppy growers in Pata and Fata to adopt other sources of income generation, and also stop the illegal practice of poppy cultivation.
According to the Geneva-based United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in the year 2004, opium production in Afghanistan increased to three billion dollars in value, representing 87 percent of the world's illicit output. The opium yield in Afghanistan was 4,200 tons in 2004 over 130,000 hectares.
According to sources, the government of Pakistan took important steps to prevent the level of opium poppy cultivation from increasing further while strengthening border controls to cut back on trafficking in the face of increased opium availability in Afghanistan. They said that the ANF, which is country's premier narcotics law enforcement agency, made big captures in the year 2004.
Professor Khalid Mufti, former principal, Khyber Medical College Peshawar and head of Mental Health Resource Centre told this scribe that the problem of drug addiction has become too complex and there was a dire need to mobilise the entire society to tackle this menace effectively.
About increased poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, he said this is really a serious problem, which needs to be tackled through stringent measures. He was of the view that the figure of around 4,200 tons poppy in 2004 is really alarming.
Warning of imminent danger from the increased production of poppy in Afghanistan, he stated that already medical problems resulting in rise in tuberculoses, AIDS, hepatitis, skin infections and sexual harassment has been visibly noticed in our own country, from this higher scale production.
He also drew attention of authorities for further increasing their efforts for rehabilitation of drug addicts. He particularly asked the authorities to make endeavour to keep young children of NWFP province from blocking their exposure to increased flow of narcotics from the neighbouring state.