INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Around 2,000 hectares of poppy fields have been cleared in recent months in Afghanistan&s western Herat province, officials said Monday.The
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) in April announced a ban on the cultivation of poppy in Afghanistan.&If anyone violates the decree the
crop will be destroyed immediately and the violator will be treated according to the sharia law,& a decree issued by IEA&s Supreme Leader
Hebatullah Akhundzada read.Speaking at a ceremony to celebrate World Drug Day, Hayatullah Rouhani, head of counter-narcotics unit of the
provincial police in Herat, assured the public of a serious fight against the cultivation and trafficking of narcotics.He also said
rehabilitation programs for drug addicts in the province was ongoing.&Experience shows that the drug addiction rate will not decrease unless
we round up drug dealers,& Rouhani said
&We have carried out nearly 250 operations in which we rounded up a large number of drug dealers and referred them for prosecution.&Syed
Mohammad Sadat, a provincial health official, said that IEA was seeking to fundamentally include drug addiction rehabilitation in the
country&s public health system.Around 70,000 drug addicts are estimated to be in Herat, mostly living on the streets and in recreation
parks.&They have a wife and children
There is no one without a family
They are addicted due to unemployment
I studied for 12 years, but look I have been forced to live on the street,& said Nazir Ahmad, one drug addict in Herat.Experts say poverty,
unemployment and easy availability of drugs have contributed to the rise in drug addiction.Counternarcotic police say more than 200 people
have been arrested in Herat on charges of drug dealing during the past 10 months
Over 1,000 kilograms of drug have been seized from them.The post 2,000 hectares of land cleared of poppies in Herat: officials first
