PESHAWAR: Pakistan’s northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will spend Rs500m ($4.7m) to raise an anti-narcotics force in accordance with the 18th Constitutional Amendment that also requires it to have its own narcotics interdiction law, according to official sources here yesterday.
The work to formulate the provincial anti-narcotics law is already in progress whereas the homework for setting up the force has also been undertaken.
The 18th Amendment, adopted in April 2010, has devolved several departments and functions from the federal government to the provinces.
The devolution of anti-narcotics apparatus from the centre to the provinces has also become a legal necessity, which remains unfulfilled.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to officials, has undertaken an exercise to put in place a legal mechanism before taking over the responsibility to control the illegal use and business of narcotics.
The provincial efforts are aligned with the process carried forward by the federal authorities concerned.
Once the proposed law is ready, it would be enacted through legislation by the provincial assembly.
INTERNEWS
