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Further Reading

Drugs in Pakistan

Pakistan's geographic location next to Afghanistan, the world's largest producer of illicit opium, places the country in a vulnerable position in terms of drug trafficking as well as drug abuse. Patterns of illicit drug production, distribution and abuse change as a result of social, economic and political developments.

Narcotics have become a multiple challenge to law enforcement authorities. In the late 1980s, Pakistan and Afghanistan exported nearly half the world's heroin, and, although their relative share declined somewhat thereafter, they remain among the world's major producers. Pakistan, especially under United States prodding, has attempted to cut back the cultivation of poppies, but the government's influence has not extended effectively into tribal areas. In addition, various political and economic forces have been brought to bear to keep narcotics police from pursuing their work too assiduously. In 1991 the Pakistan Narcotics Control Board--an organization that was supposed to have close ties to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration--was so riddled with corruption that its new director had to fire a majority of the staff. The vast profits generated by the narcotics industry not only had corrupted the enforcement authorities, including, it was rumored, some military units, but also had funded many other related crimes.

Pakistan's cultivation of opium poppy largely declined during the 1990's to near zero levels in 1999 and 2000. The commitment of the Government of Pakistan (GOP) to measures for eliminating opium poppy cultivation, together with alternative development projects funded by the international community, led to a decrease in poppy cultivation from approximately 9,441 ha. in 1992 to some 213 ha. in 2001. However, there was a reemergence of poppy cultivation, probably as a result of high opium prices following the Taliban's prohibition of poppy cultivation in Afghanistan in 2001. In 2003 poppy cultivation was reported at 6,703 ha., including for the first time cultivation in the Balochistan Province. The total area cultivated declined to 2,306 ha. by May 2007 as a result of concerted eradication efforts. Pakistan is one of the primary transit countries for drugs from Afghanistan and hence knowledge of new routes and evolving methods of drug trafficking is essential for successful interdiction. In 2007, law enforcement agencies seized 13,736 kg of heroin/morphine base, 101,069 kg of cannabis and 15,362 kg of opium (down from the 2006 seizures of 35,478 kg of heroin heroin/morphine base and 115,443 kg of cannabis and up from the 2006 opium seizures of 8,907 kg). Intelligence on groups involved in drug trafficking and their links to other crime groups is also key to controlling drug trafficking.

While the area cultivated in Pakistan during 2007 was equivalent to only around 1.2 percent of the area cultivated in Afghanistan, there is a risk that cultivation in Pakistan could increase substantially unless there are sustained efforts to dissuade farmers from planting poppy and to destroy opium crops before they are harvested.

The problematic areas in terms of poppy cultivation are largely concentrated in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Concerns about losing community acquiescence in counter terrorism operations and a lack of available security forces due to ongoing counter terrorism operations in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border areas are factors that hamper the eradication efforts in FATA. Eradication efforts need to be improved, particularly in Khyber Agency where there is a trend towards cultivation within walled compounds to conceal the crop from the authorities.