Rehabilitation plays key role in fighting the menace of drug addiction- Ijaz Shah

By Shakeel Ahmed

ISLAMABAD :  As per the directives of Federal Minister for Narcotics Control, Brig (R) Ijaz Ahmad Shah, the Federal Secretary for Narcotics Control, Akbar Durrani (TI)/PAS arranged and chaired the meeting on discussing the execution of state of the art Rehabilitation Centre in Islamabad. DG ANF Maj. General Arif Malik also attended the meeting.

In the preceding meetings, the need and urgency of having Rehabilitation Centre was discussed and it was mutually agreed upon that the pilot project would be completed in the Capital and similar model will be replicated in each province.

In order to ensure that best possible rehabilitation center is built in accordance with the International Standards, Ms. Cristina from KKAWF gave a detailed presentation targeting the functional models based in Turkey, Italy and Russia. It was proposed that if land can be acquired timely, the project can be started immediately.

Federal Secretary for Narcotics Control, Mr. Akbar Durrani (TI)/PAS suggested that land acquiring process must be expedited making the best use of available resources without any delay. He emphasized upon the fact that its a national cause and drug free society will secure future of our generations. All stakeholders must put in their best efforts to make this possible and execute the project. He added.

All participants of the meeting endorsed the given suggestion and it was mutually decided to start working towards execution on the basis of International standards of rehabilitation.

The meeting was attended by the DIG M. Khalid Khattak, Diretor(P&D), ANF, Mr. Manzoor Ali Memon, DG Internal Publicity, Dr Mazoor ul Haq, Adviser DDR & HIV/AIDS,UNODC , Ms. Cristina von Sperling Afridi, Chairperson, KKAWF, Mr. Zafar Iqbal Zafar, Deputy DG, Planning, CDA, Khalid Nuzhat, Director Radio, and  representatives from Ministry of information, PTV, and NAVTCC and officials of the Ministry of Narcotics Control.