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Call for coordination, cooperation among agencies to help control drugs

By Mohammad Asghar 2019-01-23
RAWALPINDI: All of the country`s law enforcement organisations met at the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) headquarters on Tuesday for the 12th inter-agency tasl(force (IATF) meeting, where it was suggested that coordination and cooperation among agencies would help to effectively control drugsin the country.

The meeting was chaired by Narcotics Control Secretary retired Capt Arif Nawaz Khan and organised by ANF Director General Maj Gen Mohammad Arif Malik, who is also the IATF chairman.

According to a press release issued by the ANF, the meeting was attended by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Pakistan Coast Guards (PCG), Airport Security Force (ASF), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Secretariat (formerly Fata Secretariat), Pakistan Rangers (Punjab) and PakistanRangers (Sindh).

Frontier Constabulary KP, Frontier Corps Balochistan, National Highway s and Motorway s Police (NHMP), Pakistan Railways Police, Punjab Police, Sindh Police, KP Police, Balochistan Police, GilgitBaltistan Police, Excise & Taxation Sindh, Excise & Taxation Balochistan, Excise & Taxation GB, Excise & Taxation AJK and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) were also in attendance.

The meeting was called to review prevailing challenges, synergise counter-narcotics operations, ñne tune coordination and cooperation among law enforcement for effective drugs control and accrue the maximum benefits for the jurisdiction of respective departments.

The performance of all law enforcement organisations from 2018 was also presented for the other IATF members to analyse.

Actions in response to decisions made at the last IATF meeting were also reviewed.The meeting highlighted the importance of collaborative efforts to eradicate narcotics and emphasised the formulation of a joint mechanism in this regard.

The meeting urged the improvement of cooperation amongst all agencies in various Helds, such as an integrated border management system, information sharing, drug awareness activities, the evolution of the IATF as a statutory body with a functional secretariat at ANF headquarters, the training of IATF member agencies` officers at the ANF Academy, emerging narco-trends, legal issues and capacity building.

The Narcotics Control secretary and the ANF director general praised the performance of law enforcement agencies despite capacity and resource constraints.

They also appreciated the participation of IATF member agencies at meetings and directed for frequent counter-narcotics interaction at the provincial and federal levels.