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Poppy crop destroyed in Charsadda
PESHAWAR, April 6: Police, with the help of local
people, destroyed on Sunday poppy crop grown on
vast areas of Shabqadar town in the Charsadda
district near Mohmand tribal region. The police
and local elders had held meetings for five days
and finally reached an agreement to destroy the
crop cultivated on 140 kanals in Angoor Korona,
Zareef Korona, Kas Korona, Badi Korona and Aiysha
Korona.
Before destroying the crop, landlords, including
Malik Zafar, Malik Iftikhar, Malik Mohibullah and
others, told journalists that they had been
growing poppy since the ouster of Taliban regime
in Afghanistan, due to the increasing demand in
the neighbouring country.
They leased out land to Afghan farmers who were
expert in extracting opium from poppy buds, the
elders said. The landlords said they were forced
to get cultivated the banned crop due to the poor
irrigation system. Poppy needed not that much
water, therefore small landlords gave their land
to Afghans on lease for growing the banned crop,
they added.
They said police was allowed to destroy the poppy
crop on the condition that the government would
fulfil their genuine demands, including provision
of potable water, initiating a tube-well scheme,
establishing a school for girls, and giving jobs
to the locals in police force.
The elders told the newsmen that they had
destroyed the poppy crop in their areas, but a
large quantity of poppy had also been grown in
Charsadda district by some influential families
who also owned factories to convert opium into
heroin.
Chief of capital city police Tanvir-ul-Haq Sipra
told the journalists that they had been informed
by secret agency personnel about the cultivation
of poppy crop in the area. Farmers had tactically
grown the poppy in the centre of wheat crop to
keep the banned item cultivation secret from the
general public, he added.
The DAWN |
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Pakissan.com; Advisory Point
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