ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) and local authorities have launched a “major operation” in southwestern Balochistan to eliminate poppy cultivation and drug dens in the province on the directions of the army chief and the provincial government, state-run media reported on Monday.
Afghanistan has historically been the epicenter of poppy cultivation and a major supplier of global opiates. But the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in 2023 that opium cultivation fell throughout the country to just 10,800 hectares (26,700 acres) in 2023 from 233,000 hectares the previous year, slashing supply by 95 percent to 333 tons. The Taliban-led government in Afghanistan has banned poppy cultivation and cracked down on growers since seizing power in the country in August 2021.
ANF Director Syed Sijjeel Haider told the media last year that there has been an increase in drug usage and narcotics smuggling in Pakistan over the past few years, with the majority of those affected being the country’s youth.
International publication Finance Times reported this month that since the Taliban banned poppy cultivation, Pakistan has emerged as “one of the world’s biggest suppliers of opium, with output increasing sharply this year as stockpiles decline.” The report said officials in Balochistan, the insurgency-hit province bordering Afghanistan, were concerned that the area could turn it into an “opium production hub” fueling addiction in the country and enriching militant groups.
