ISLAMABAD:The Senate Standing Committee on Narcotics Control on Wednesday deferred the “Control of Narcotics Substances (Amendment) Bill, 2021″ till the next meeting for further deliberation.
The Committee which met here at the Parliament House under the chairmanship of Senator Ejaz Choudhary deferred the “Control of Narcotics Substances (Amendment) Bill, 2021″ moved by Senator Rana Maqbool Ahmed till the next meeting. The bill was aimed at checking the misuse of narcotics law, and increasing the punishment (imprisonment of 10yrs and Fine of five hundred thousand rupees) pertaining to vexatious entry, search, seizure, and arrest made by the empowered person under section 20 and section 21 of the Control of narcotics Substances Act 1997.
Senators Sardar Muhammad Shafiq Tarin, Dost Muhammad Khan, Falak Naz, Rana Maqbool Ahmed, Rana Mahmood ul Hassan, Anwar Lal dean, Jam Mehtab Hussain Dahar, and Atta ur Rehman attended the meeting. Minister for Narcotics Control, Shahzain Bugti. Secretary, Ministry of Narcotics Control Ms Humaira Ahmad, DG ANF and other concerned officials were also present in the meeting.
The Secretary, Ministry of Narcotics Control Ms Humaira Ahmad asked the sponsor of the bill, Senator Rana Maqbool Ahmad to withdraw the bill as the empowered person if found exercising his power above the given mandate is treated as per the existing law of the Ministry.
To which Maqbool said the bill has been brought after the unfortunate incident that took place with Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah in the past.
Maqbool observed that the high court in his decision in the case has asked for further inquiry into the case but no inquiry has been initiated yet. “I will withdraw the bill if further inquiry is instigated into the case as per directions of the high court.”
He stressed inciting further investigation in Sanaullah’s case and if found innocent then justice should be made.
The Chairman Committee remarked that no one should be treated unfairly and that the matter needs to be sorted out, adding that there should be no further delay in the case.
Ms Humaira Ahmad informed that the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) has no objection to the amendment bill but the matter regarding the imposition of a fine on the empowered person under sections 20 and 21 of the Narcotics control substances act 1997 has not been decided yet and asked for more time to look into the matter.
“We will revert to the committee after the CII finalize its deliberation and table the report in the committee, she said. She asked for providing time-limit to revisit the bill and study in detail the case of Sanaullah.
The Chairman Committee directed to present within 30 days details of the case related to Sanaullah and all the other high-profile cases pending in the courts.
The Chairman Committee also told the Secretary to complete contemplation on the proposed amendment bill and report back to the committee in 30 days.
The representative from CII informed that the council has no objection to the amendment bill but the matter regarding the imposition of a fine was yet to be decided.
The Ministry informed that the letter about the inclusion of three deferred projects in the PSDP for the year 2022-23 was written to the Planning Commission on June 23, to which the Planning commission has suggested discussing the matter in the review meeting.
Regarding the matter of the death of people due to Alcohol in Sindh, Ms Humaira told the committee that as per the direction of the committee a letter was dispatched to the government of Sindh and a reply was awaited. However, another letter would be jotted down to the Sindh Govt in this connection.
On data of cases which were in trial courts, Ms Humaira informed that currently 2314 cases were pending in CNS Court, 792 in High Court, and 641 in Supreme Court making a tally of 3747 pending cases overall.
The Secretary shared the details of steps being taken by the Ministry of Narcotics Control to curb Narcotics in/around the Educational institutions as well as the Colleges and Universities, situated in Islamabad.
She said the Ministry was running a plethora of awareness campaigns by engaging students of different educational institutions.
Ms Humaira said we are trying to take the corporate entity on board for public service messages while also thinking of scaffolding law for children involved in such activity and to see how should they be treated and castigated.
The Chairman committee stressed making the surveillance system more effective to deter this menace.
DG Anti Narcotics Force (ANF) Ghulam Shabbir said we were not carrying out operations inside the educational institution but do operate outside the campuses. Major operations have been carried out at the entry-Exit point of Islamabad, he said.
I myself visit educational institutions and delivers lectures on the said subject, he said.
The Chairman Committee asked the DG to present a detailed report regarding all the operations being carried out by ANF in the last three months at the entry-exit points of the capital.