Make the War on Drugs meaningful Go for the big fishes
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The drug menace must be clear to all, particularly to the Government and to repeat a point mentioned here many times, something much more is expected to give teeth and substance to the War on Drugs campaign. It was to tackle the growing menace of drug trafficking and the heavy toll it has taken on the people, particularly the youngsters, that Imphal launched the War on Drugs campaign sometime in November of 2018, that is one year after the BJP led Government came to power here. A few drug kinpins have been cornered and arrested but as repeatedly pointed out in this column, no one knows of the follow up action after a big arrest. And it is under this campaign that vast swathes of poppy cultivation have been razed to the ground, but yet there is no exhaustive report on who have been held accountable for the poppy plantation. Many times, The Sangai Express had commented that the Government would need to do something much more than burning or destroying poppy plantations but so far there is nothing to show on ground that any substantive efforts have been made to go beyond destroying the poppy plantations. The Government would need to look beyond the tillers of the soil and get down to the task of unmasking the network that exists. Who finances the poppy plantation ? Who takes the harvested pods or parts of the poppy plants ? Who markets them or who takes the product made from the poppy plants to the market ? Elementary moves the Government should initiate and this is a point The Sangai Express has raised in this column on more than one occasion. Yet there has been no positive response from the side of the Government. Get down to the business of unravelling the racket, starting from the top to the bottom and only then would the needed teeth be given to the War on Drugs campaign. Follow up course of action is what is expected from the Government following the arrest of who has been dubbed a ‘kingpin’ in the drug trade at Churachandpur just recently. A kingpin, this is the term used by the Narcotics Control Bureau and one hopes the story of the alleged kingpin does not begin and end with the arrest. Manipur certainly need to know who are his associates. How far does his reach extend ? Where are the drug manufacturing units located ? Who backs him in his dealing with drugs ? Who are the traffickers and drug carriers, the people who are hired for a fee to take the drugs from one place to the other. It is on the foundations of these questions that the NCB and other investigating agencies should proceed in the investigation to unravel the network. A drug kingpin or a drug carrier cannot be expected to work alone and this is where the existence of a network becomes mandatory. And it is the job of the investigating agency to unravel the network and name the people who are part of the network.
For years, more particularly after the War on Drugs campaign was launched The Sangai Express has been consistent in asking why all arrests related to the drug trade always run into a wall. In other words why are there no reports of any follow up action ? For instance what has happened to the case of some policemen arrested at Pallel with a huge consignment of drugs in the earlier part of 2023, a few months before Manipur went up in flames on May 3, 2023 ? What is the status of the case now ? No answer has been forthcoming from the side of the Government and it is precisely because of this that such a question will continue to be raised in this column. Arresting a drug peddler from some of the more notorious streets and alleys of Imphal and other places will definitely not take the War on Drugs any further. A campaign against drugs should invariably mean demonstrating the intent and sincerity of the Government in going after the big guns. It is along this line that it is said that the Government would need to go beyond the arrest of two or three village chiefs and some tillers of the soil for poppy cultivation. The seriousness to tackle the drug menace should be demonstrated and the Government cannot afford to rest easy with just coining a slogan. A kingpin has been arrested at Churachandpur and Manipur would certainly wait to see the follow up action that follows in the coming days.
For years, more particularly after the War on Drugs campaign was launched The Sangai Express has been consistent in asking why all arrests related to the drug trade always run into a wall. In other words why are there no reports of any follow up action ? For instance what has happened to the case of some policemen arrested at Pallel with a huge consignment of drugs in the earlier part of 2023, a few months before Manipur went up in flames on May 3, 2023 ? What is the status of the case now ? No answer has been forthcoming from the side of the Government and it is precisely because of this that such a question will continue to be raised in this column. Arresting a drug peddler from some of the more notorious streets and alleys of Imphal and other places will definitely not take the War on Drugs any further. A campaign against drugs should invariably mean demonstrating the intent and sincerity of the Government in going after the big guns. It is along this line that it is said that the Government would need to go beyond the arrest of two or three village chiefs and some tillers of the soil for poppy cultivation. The seriousness to tackle the drug menace should be demonstrated and the Government cannot afford to rest easy with just coining a slogan. A kingpin has been arrested at Churachandpur and Manipur would certainly wait to see the follow up action that follows in the coming days.