Tag: Australia

Crystal Meth

Pak Narcotics Bureau Recovers Crystal Meth From Australia-Bound Parcel

By LokMarg

Pakistan bureau for combating narcotics smuggling and use has recently confiscated a 49 kg drug consignment and foiled an attempt to smuggle crystal meth to Australia, media reports said.

Drug abuse is taking a heavy toll on the youth in Pakistan, especially students, and fuelling a life of addiction and crime. This latest Thursday crackdown on drugs led to failed attempts by the smugglers to smuggle the drug in Australia via a local carrier company located on Shahrah-e-Faisal, the most popular freeway in Karachi, reported Pakistan Observer.
Drug parcel was hidden inside women’s and children’s clothes, the media portal reported citing an ANF spokesperson.

The Anti-Narcotic Force has filed a case against the smuggler under the anti-narcotics act. This is not an isolated incident as earlier on August 3, the ANF seized three kg of crystal ice from an Afghan national at the Pak-Afghan border in Chaman, Balochistan province.

During a routine checking at the Pak-Afghan border, the crystal meth was seized from an Afghan national named Imaruddin, reported Pakistan Observer.

In this particular case, the accused was trying to smuggle narcotics to Pakistan from Afghanistan via the Chaman border, the Anti-Narcotic Force officials said. A case was registered against the Afghan national under the anti-narcotics act.

In December last year, Pakistan then State Minister of Interior Shahryar Afridi said a survey has shown that a large of students in the Pakistani capital take crystal meth.

Crystal methamphetamine, also called ice, is a drug that consists of colorless crystals of varying sizes and shapes that are used through smoking and injecting into one’s body.

Speaking at a drug awareness event, Afridi said that 75 pc of female students and 45 pc of male students, including from well-known educational institutions, have been found to be taking the drug.

According to the ANF, cannabis has remained very popular among drug users across Karachi making it the second largest city for consuming the drug in the world. The drug scene in various parts of Pakistan is getting complex and fluid.

Till some years ago, policy-makers in Pakistan were concerned about the consumption of mild stimulants by students and out-of-school youth to stay alert and to boost energy, and the use of cannabis and excessive alcohol consumption.

By 2010 the situation changed dramatically with the arrival of cocaine and heroin in the region. These drugs were brought into the region from producing countries and primarily meant for export to large consuming nations in Asia. The situation is grave not only in Islamabad and Karachi but in almost every part of Pakistan, the ANF added.

The major factors behind the increasing rate of drug trafficking in Pakistan are refugees from Afghanistan. Afghanistan is the world’s leading producer of cannabis and different types of other substances. There are hundreds of refining labs in Afghanistan, many next along the Pakistan-Afghan border, turning substances into heroin.

Cannabis and heroin flow from Afghanistan to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan from various illegal channels, especially through illegal border crossings. From there these drugs are supplied to different areas of Pakistan by rail, air, and truck.

There are very little treatment options for drug abusers in Pakistan. Those that do exist have come under harsh criticism from advocacy groups including, Human Rights Organisations. State-run centres may appear more like a jail, offer very little, and consist of heavy detoxification, medications, and basic therapies, it said and urged citizens to come together to combat the menace. (ANI)

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Quad Leaders

Quad Leaders Sign Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief

By LokMarg

The United States on Friday hosted a ministerial meeting of the Quad grouping with India, Japan and Australia, the first such meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
The leaders from the Quad countries signed the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) partnership guidelines.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who is here on a 10-day official visit to the United States, participated in the meeting and said the HADR partnership is very timely.

“Given the turbulent times, it’s important that Quad goes further in constructive agenda that we’ve set for ourselves that we work together on the delivery of public goods, that our efforts and particularly what we’re signing today the HADR partnership which we discussed and finalized in Tokyo is extremely timely,” Jaishankar said in his opening remarks.

He said there were other initiatives in the making, some a little further in the pipeline like STEM fellowship. “We’re working on economic framework though we’ve other partners beyond Quad on it, on maritime domain awareness. Great idea to meet regularly on the sidelines of the UNGA in our respective countries too,” he added.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who lost his father overnight and is likely to rush out of New York, hosted the Quad meeting.

The top US diplomat started his remarks by announcing that the meeting in New York is evidence that Quad is “strong and is getting stronger”.

“Not one of us alone can do what is necessary to meet these challenges and seize these opportunities and that is the inspiration behind Quad,” Blinken told his counterparts.

“This is the first time that the foreign ministers of the Quad nations got together at the UNGA so my hope is that it will be held as a regular feature at the meetings,” Blinken added.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong talked about Australia’s commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific that is inclusive and resilient.

“Quad is a forum committed to bringing tangible benefits to the region and ensuring a region which is peaceful, stable, prosperous and where sovereignty is respected, where the countries are free to make their own choices,” Wong said.

Wong took a veiled dig at China over the country trying to dominate the Indo-Pacific and said, “No one in this room wants to see a region where countries are not able to make their sovereign choices, where any one country or any one perspective dominates.”

She firmly asserted that the Indo-Pacific region is being reshaped economically and strategically. “We want to represent countries to navigate this period of change together. So this is the heart of the Quad,” Wong noted.

Japan’s Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa highlighted the importance of Quad and, in a veiled swipe at Russia and China, referred to attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by “force”. The minister stated that free and open international order based on the rule of law is under threat.

“It is extremely significant for us to demonstrate together to the international community our firm commitment to the UN charter and free and open Indo Pacific (FOIP),” the minister asserted.

“At the same time, FOIP cannot be achieved without working together with countries in the region. I am confident that the guidelines for Quad partnership on HADR here will further strengthen our collaboration to effectively respond to disasters in the Indo-Pacific region,” the minister concluded. (ANI)

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