Health Minister says Police are hand-in-glove with drug mafia in J&K

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

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SRINAGAR, Oct 6: Ebullient BJP leader and Minister of Health and Medical Choudhary Lal Singh on Tuesday caused an unprecedented embarrassment to his own government by claiming that Police were hand-in-glove with drug mafia in Jammu and Kashmir and the menace of narcotic trafficking could not be curbed until the Police officers are made accountable. 

Turning the faces of his own colleagues red after many of the PDP-BJP coalition showered praises on Police, Lal Singh said while speaking on a resolution moved by PDP's Javed Hassan Baig in the Assembly: "DG is listening. I don't care if anybody gets angry with me. Fact of the matter is that the drug trafficking owes its existence to indulgence of a section of Police". 

"After Punjab, it is the youth in the state of Jammu and Kashmir who is becoming target of the flourishing drug mafia", Singh added.

He said it is the duty of the police department to expose the nexus and track down the source if they are serious in their fight against chekcing drug menace in the state.

Referring to Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Singh said as Health Minister alone he cannot check the growing menace of drug trafficking. "I need active support of the Police department".

"Police Department comes directly under your charge. I want to make it clear as Health Minister I am working hard to check the drug menace. I can create de- addiction and rehabilitation centres but unless the police department cracks its whip and breaks the backbone of this trade, drug peddlers will flourish in the state and hand over poison to our young generation", Singh asserted.

He said all the drugs enter the state via Lakhanpur in Jammu and despite knowing this, government had failed to track down the culprits and bring them to justice. The minister said that there was need for the government departments to work in close coordination. “De-addiction initiative needs cooperation from all the stakeholders,” he said.

Responding to the points of discussion brought out by other members in the house, Singh claimed those who thought unemployment was the root-cause of growing incidents of drug menace were wrong. He said that the youths found taking the drugs purchased their regular doses by spending hefty amounts of money. They looted jewellery, were involved in chain snatching incidents and other goods such as mobile phones. He said unless strict measures are taken to curb the drug menace it would be difficult to save the youth from falling in the trap.

“There is a lot of work to be done as far as this menace is concerned. You can’t blame a poor drug addict for the problem. The problem lies somewhere else,” Singh asserted.

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