Arka chakraborty and Kasturi Guha
For decades now, the administration has been combating violence in Jammu and Kashmir — but now “narco-terrorism” and “substance abuse” has become another challenge altogether for the present dispensation.
The intelligence agencies have rung the alarm bells over “Pakistani drug syndicates” becoming active in Jammu and Kashmir and, according to them, “heroin is being smuggled into the country to finance terror activities”.
The National Investigation Agency recently arrested a bank manager, Afaq Ahmad Wani a resident of Handwara, in Srinagar in a case related to the seizure of 21 kg of heroin and cash from the members of a drug syndicate operating in J&K.
Rampant surge in drug addiction in the valley
As per a report dated 24th July, 2020, drug addiction cases in Jammu and Kashmir has soared to “1000% in just three years at just one hospital”.
At Srinagar, a 26-year-old man, dressed in a casual blue T-shirt and faded jeans, is taking a walk in the lobby of the drug de-addiction centre at the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital. He doesn’t exhibit any overt signs of addiction, until one looks at his arm, where scars tell a tale of long-term heroin usage.”Around three to four years ago, I started sniffing heroin, also called ‘chasing’. During that time, I also took brown sugar and cannabis. But each passing day, I wanted something stronger, and within six months, I was directly injecting heroin into my blood through needles,” he says. The man, who does not wish to be identified beyond stating his profession as a cab driver, admits that he ended up spending Rs 1.8 lakh on his addictions, while a friend of his sold his car to buy drugs. The cab driver and his friend are hardly isolated cases; thousands of Kashmiri youth are in the grip of drug addiction. The SMHS de-addiction centre, the main such facility in the Kashmir Valley, has registered a 945 percent rise in patients since 2016-17 — 489 patients visited its Out Patients Department (OPD) between April 2016 and March 2017, 3,622 in the next 12 months, and 5,113 in the 12 months after that. Between April and June 2019, as many as 1,095 more patients have visited the facility. The picture is as grim among patients admitted to the centre. From 116 patients in 2014, the number has risen every subsequent year — 203 in 2015, 207 in 2016, 374 in 2017 and 624 in 2018.
Is there any pertinent reason behind drug abuse in the valley?
Unnerving unrest as a contributor
Unemployment, interminable conflicts in the region, vulnerabilities of the locals have a major contribution to the flaring substance abuse by the youth which is a boon for local drug peddlers and facilitators of narcotic modules.
Dr Saleem Yousuf sees 50-60 patients every day, a majority of whom are aged between 10 and 30. He estimates that 80-90 percent of them are heroin addicts.”Recently we had a 45-year-old woman who was consuming heroin. The reason she cited was killings of her family members in the conflict — that is one of the stress factors that we have seen among drug abuse patients,” he says. “Domestic issues and unemployment also lead to drug abuse, as does curiosity and the desire to entertain themselves.”
A 17-year-old boy from south Kashmir is a case in point. His father says there were no serious issues in his son’s life that could have prompted him to take drugs. The boy says his friends got him to take heroin as they knew many peddlers who operate in the area, but he only took it three times before his father found out and immediately brought him to SMHS.“I didn’t pay anything for the drug, nor did any of my friends. Later, we heard that is how the peddlers operate — the first few packets are free, so that we get hooked on the drug. After that, you have to pay Rs 1,000 for one gram,” the boy says.
Narco-terror networks and the easy availability of drugs
“I have never faced the scarcity of drugs, ever since I started taking them. It’s freely available as long as you have the money”, said a 24-year-old who has been addicted to hard drugs for 2 years. Statements like this and the fact that drugs are now more easily available in areas close to Srinagar indicate that the amount of drugs present in the Kashmiri landscape has increased greatly in the past few years. While opium is produced locally, that is not the main substance addiction in Kashmir. Dr. Saleem Yousuf, who sees 50-60 patients every day, estimates that 80-90% of them are heroin addicts. Doctors at a government de-addiction center in Srinagar agree, saying that the 15% heroin abuse recorded in 2016 has gone up to 90% by June 2020. Intelligence agencies opine that heroine, which is not produced in India, is being pushed into India by a cross-border narco-terror network and the proceeds from the sale of these substances are used to fuel terrorist activities in the country, especially in Kashmir region. It is also speculated that after the abrogation of Article 370 last year, this network is trying to push drugs into the country on a much larger scale in order to fuel more terrorist activities, hence the greater availability of hard drugs and an exponential increase in the number of addicts. Narco-terrorism in Pakistan’s case in complex as, according to Dr. Siegfried O. Wolf, it blurs the line between narcotic traffickers, criminal networks (ex.: D-Company), terrorist organizations (ex.: Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hizbul Mujahideen, Khalistan Zindabad) and state agencies (ex.: Inter-Service Intelligence/ISI). The involvement of such agencies in the trafficking has been ascertained from various sources, most importantly the former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who, in a 1994 interview to be published for the Washington Post, revealed that the then Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Aslam Beg and the then Director General (DG) of ISI General Asad Durrani had presented a “blue print” for selling heroin to pay for the country’s covert military operations. The role of some insiders in exacerbating the crisis is not out of the question either with some residential government quarters being raided by the NIA. Local stakeholders like Amritsar-based businessman Gurpinder Singh are also found involved in the network. As mentioned earlier, a large number of youths in J&K use drugs as a coping mechanism in the conflict-ridden Valley. Their addiction triggered by terror, violence and conflict generates money that is poured into fueling more terrorist activities. Thus, the vicious cycle of violence, despair, addiction, money and more violence continues.
How is the menace unfurling?
Another patient, whose main suppliers were a male and a female peddler operating out of Batwara area in Srinagar, offers an insight into how the drug menace spread in Srinagar. “Initially we used to get drugs from Sangam area, which is around 35 km from my home. Now, it is easily available in Pampore and other areas close to Srinagar. I have seen how the drug network spread,” he says.
A peddler can sell 25 packets a day, earning upwards of Rs 25,000, he says. “In villages, the rate is Rs 1,000; in Srinagar it is 1,800-2,000, and outside Kashmir, it sells for Rs 4,500. It is an industry and everyone is profiting from it,” says the patient.
The increase in drug consumption might be a direct result of increased pilferage on Kashmiri drug routes, according to a government official. “It is our understanding that suddenly pilferage along the route increased, which resulted in the formation of these drug conduits. Most of the drugs come from Tangdhar region and pass through parts of north, central and south Kashmir. Most drug consumption was noticed along the route, with Sopore, Srinagar and Anantnag most affected. This is a crisis situation,” the official says.
Increasing poppy cultivation in Kashmir leaves hospitals battling due to surge in drug dependence cases
A dense crop of poppy over a large area of land near the Chandgam High School in south Kashmir’s Pulwama has left teachers worried. They fear that the crops, which lie only a few yards away from the school, could draw teenage students towards drug abuse. Authorities have destroyed poppy over hundreds of acres of land in Kashmir, but there are still vast areas covered with the banned crop. A systematic effort by the state’s excise department to eradicate the crop began on 13 May, and in the ongoing harvesting season, authorities have destroyed poppy over around 1,427 kanals in southern Kashmir, 520 kanals in northern Kashmir and 780 kanals in central Kashmir. But large parts of land have remained untouched. Javed Ahmad, a teacher at the Chandgam high school, said that authorities need to be tough to control the poppy cultivation.”The government should seize the land on which the crop is grown. They have been slow in their efforts to curb the cultivation. Officials have begun to cut the crop now, when it has been harvested at many places. The crop should have been destroyed months back,” he said.
The sowing of seeds shouldn’t be allowed in the first place,” added, another teacher, Tahir Hussain. Syed Mohammad Iqbal, another teacher, said that in his village of Nownagri in Pulwama, poppy is cultivated over large tracts of land due to the lack of any punitive action from the authorities.
Local residents said that farmers sell dried poppy to drug dealers in the neighbouring state of Punjab, who travel to Kashmir to buy it from them. Sixty-year-old Abdul Majeed of Bobugam in Pulwama, who shepherds livestock for a living, said, “The cultivation of poppy has increased in the area. It could turn our youth to drugs.”
The medical superintendent of the district hospital of Pulwama, Dr Abdul Rashid Para, said that the authorities are looking at starting a drug de-addiction centre at the hospital, as “substance abuse has become common among youth.” A report of the health and medical education department has revealed that “the state has seen a steep rise in the burden of physical, mental and substance-use disorders over the past two decades.”Para said that addiction can be fought better if all cases are reported at the hospitals. But this does not happen, he said, “due to the stigma associated with substance abuse.” The involvement of elders from the community can help control the drug menace. The cultivation of the crop has been going on openly,” said Para. He further added, that “factors that contribute to the rise of drug dependence are the increasing school dropout rate and the mounting stress levels due to the ongoing conflict.”Rather said that farmers sell dried opium powder through truck drivers to dealers from outside the state. “The contact points are roadside eateries,” he said.
Local residents said that poppy is grown once a year, and the seeds are sown towards the end of autumn. The crop is harvested towards the end of May. Across southern Kashmir, poppy is grown on plots near the roadside as well as on patches of land that lie amid almond and apple orchards. Local residents said that farmers have begun growing it as it fetches more money, and fields do not need to be regularly irrigated.
Pre-emptive steps taken by the administration
1) Raids conducted by the NIA across North Kashmir for associated narco-terror related cases.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has conducted raids at many places in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district in connection with Narco-terror funding module after several drug hauls. According to sources, multiple raids were carried out in various villages of Baramulla district and at least four houses and a residential government quarter were searched for many hours. The NIA teams searched houses of Ghulam Rasool Waza at Palhallan Pattan, Shaheen Ahmad Lone of Kanispora Baramulla and Haleema in Boniyar Baramulla. NIA sleuths also conducted raids at the government residential quarter in Baramulla where Haleema is residing due to security threats and is guarded by a forces of Central forces. The house of Tariq Ahmad (ex Sarpanch) who was arrested last year by police in a drug peddling case was also searched by NIA. The NIA sleuths were accompanied by Central Armed Police Force and J&K Police personnel. Sources have told that the raids have been carried out in connection with the investigations of recent haul of Drugs and Weapons in North Kashmir and names had surfaced during the interrogation of the arrested.
2) NIA files charge sheet against 10 in Hizbul Mujahideen narco-terror case
The NIA had earlier filed a charge sheet against 10 people, including slain Hizbul Mujahideen commander Riyaz Ahmed Naikoo, for their alleged involvement in smuggling heroin into the country and channelising its proceeds to Pakistan and terrorists based in Jammu and Kashmir, an official said.
The 14,000-page charge sheet was filed before a special NIA court in Mohali under relevant sections of the IPC, the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Indian Passports Act.
The investigation also unearthed the conspiracy hatched by the Pakistan-based HM commanders and their associates, and terrorist gangs in Punjab to support and augment the terror infrastructure of HM in India by raising money through drug smuggling/drug peddling, the NIA spokesperson said. Of these, money proceeds of five consignments were partly sent back to Pakistan through hawala operators while a substantial portion was channelised to HM terrorists in Kashmir through a network of overground workers and other associates, the NIA official said. So far, Rs 98.5 lakh, eight vehicles and three kg of heroin have been seized from the accused and investments worth several crores of rupees have been identified.
3) Eradication of poppy crops by the ETO
Excise Taxation Officer (ETO), Mohammad Altaf Rather, however, said that the department has launched a drive to destroy the poppy crop across Kashmir. “We are using tractors to dig the fields in which the crop has been grown and destroyed it in several areas. In Shopian, we destroyed poppy crops sown over 500 kanals of continuous land and also removed it from another 150 kanals in Chadoora,” he said.
Rigorous measures that should be taken to nip the problem in the bud
1) Stringent checking of vehicles (especially heavy vehicles) on the border and inter-state routes. Also, deployment of an adequate number of security personnel for the intended purpose.
2) Establishing steady numbers of rehabilitation centers for the addicts; employment of ample doctors nurses and counsellors (for the revitalization of the psychological health of the victims) at those centers. Most importantly, funding them in generous amounts and donations that could keep up the quality of good work.
3) Generating helpline numbers that could be easily accessed by the victims and their families.
4) Speedy and effective curbing of the cultivation of poppy seeds along with banning the land in which they’re grown for a temporary period of time until the crop is completely destroyed. (But also taking care of the economic interests of the cultivators, mostly poor farmers, they should get alternative cultivating lands or otherwise means of economic support for sustainability.)
- Post-conflict healthcare services should be introduced and strengthened on a priority basis. This will prevent young people in J&K from turning to drugs as a large number of them have started using them as a coping mechanism in a conflict situation.
- Social stigma regarding both mental health and drug addiction has to be addressed and eradicated in order to secure the cooperation of the local communities in combating the crisis. Some town and village communities are already up to the task. These spontaneous efforts must be encouraged, rewarded and coordinated with the official and trained medical workers’ struggle against the crisis in order to have a larger impact.
- Considering the complexity of the narco-terror network and the involvement of large-scale stakeholders, the increase of illicit cross-border trade of narcotic substances should be regarded as not just a law and order issue, but one of national security. This crisis should be brought to international attention and large-scale players must be held accountable.
Conclusion
After militancy, drug addiction has now become the principal threat to the society of Jammu and Kashmir. If the aforementioned discussion of the crisis has shown anything, it is that there is no one way to counter it. The range of actors involved in exacerbating the crisis is so massive that strict vigilance on the border areas will not be nearly enough to put an end to the problem. As the network has multiple tentacles of multiple natures, there should be a multi-pronged way of addressing the same which includes political, social, psychological and diplomatic solutions as well as the standard invigilation. All, this, however, will only provide a short-term respite as the real challenge will be to eliminate or at least curb the need among the region’s youth for drugs. This can only be done by prioritizing mental health in the social environment in general and the medical facilities in particular. Moreover, the youth must be provided stable educational and employment opportunities and a secure living environment as the lack of these elements are the major factors in increasing number of Kashmir’s young people turning to narcotics as a way of escape from the grim reality that awaits them. The epidemic of drug addiction is not only a case-specific to J&K but one that is seriously damaging our nation as a whole. Authorities both at UT and the Centre should treat the phenomenon as a national crisis if any real positive change is to be made.
References
https://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/kashmir/kashmir-gets-ist-free-drug-de-addiction-centre/
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/archive/j-k/kashmir-high-on-addicts-low-on-facilities-803555
https://academicjournals.org/journal/INGOJ/article-full-text-pdf/2E0CB3441179
http://www.indiandefencereview.com/growing-drug-addiction-in-kashmir/
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/drug-abuse-epidemic-in-indian-administered-kashmir/1890694
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/editorials/cross-border-narco-terror-115807
https://www.sadf.eu/comment-196-pakistans-bigger-plans-of-narco-terrorism/
https://theprint.in/india/nia-arrests-bank-manager-in-jammu-kashmir-narco-terror-case/463298/
https://openthemagazine.com/cover-story/guns-and-poppy/
Leave a Reply
You must belogged in to post a comment.