I’m confused here. Are you guys saying that the heroin is a part of some larger scheme to undermine western society? Just trying to sift through and get a clearer picture.
Heroin has been a cash crop in Afghanistan for a very very long time. The farmers don’t really have a choice but to grow it. Heroin is simply funding the Taliban and AQ. Pakistan has a pretty staunch stand on heroin (so they say), they also have the highest heroin addiction rate in the world.
[quote]gonepostal wrote:
I’m confused here. Are you guys saying that the heroin is a part of some larger scheme to undermine western society? Just trying to sift through and get a clearer picture.
Heroin has been a cash crop in Afghanistan for a very very long time. The farmers don’t really have a choice but to grow it. Heroin is simply funding the Taliban and AQ. Pakistan has a pretty staunch stand on heroin (so they say), they also have the highest heroin addiction rate in the world.[/quote]
Na, some people are just grasping for straws in order to justify all the killing they advocate…
[quote]gonepostal wrote:
I’m confused here. Are you guys saying that the heroin is a part of some larger scheme to undermine western society? Just trying to sift through and get a clearer picture.
[/quote]
Yes.
[quote]
Pakistan has a pretty staunch stand on heroin (so they say), they also have the highest heroin addiction rate in the world.[/quote]
The Pakistani state is based on narcotics traffic:
“Let us not complicate things. It is really very simple. If you control the poppy fields, Karachi and the road that links the two, you will be so rich that you will control Pakistan, army or no army” - Muhammad Sajidin Drug Mafia and National Security: The Karachi Trauma" Defence Journal, vol. XII, no. 7
And D. Suba Chandran on narco-politics in Pakistan(note, this was written pre-9/11:
all the provinces of Pakistan are being affected by drug trafficking. Landikotal, Jamrud, Bara Bazaar and Dara Adam Khel are the four main centres of narcotics dealings in the NWFP.18 Of these four areas, Dara, "controlled by the powerful Adam Khel Afridis is located in the finger of tribal territory that extends across the Kohat-Peshawar road. The Dara currently is the most important incountry outlet for heroin."19 In the NWFP, drug trafficking is done by clans such as the Jaduns, Yusufzais Khattaks and Afridis, who have powerful connections with the ruling elite and the Army. The Yusufzais had close connections with Nawaz Sharif through Lt. General Fazle Haq who was the Governor of the NWFP. Fazle Haq sponsored the election campaigns of the Islamic Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) in the Frontier in 1990. During his tenure as Governor, Fazle Haq made select anti-heroin campaigns only against the Afridis. While Yusufzais are associated with the IJI, the Afridis have links with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). Another drug baron, Malik Mohammad Ayub Khan, otherwise known as Haji Ayub was also closely associated with the IJI. “During the 1990 election campaign, the IJI openly embraced Haji Ayub, put him in charge of overseeing the election campaign in FATA and asked him to help finance IJI candidates further afield. The Haji reportedly purchased his own seat (NA-33 Khyber Agency), declaring that he would pay up to Rs. 50,000 per vote.”
The most powerful of the drug traffickers, the Afridis, are divided into eight sub-clans referred to as "khels"â??Aka Khel, Malikdin Khel, Jakha Khel, Adam Khel, Kuki Khel, Kamar Khel, Qambar Khel, and Sepah Khel. The Afridis are professional in the sense that they are involved right from cultivation and processing, up to transporting to international markets. It is believed that there are more than 100 labs in the Khyber Agency. The most important leader of the Afridis, Malik Wali Khan from the Kuki Khel who was also known as the “King of Khyber Heroin” in the 1980s, was a member of the National Assembly during 1960-65. The Kuki Khel also had a powerful Army that withstood the attack by the governmental Army for almost six weeks in November 1985. Malik Waris Khan who got elected to the National Assembly from Khyber Agency in 1988, used his drug money to bail out the PPP government in 1989 when Nawaz Sharif brought the no-confidence motion.
In Baluchistan, the Notezai and Bugti tribes are involved in drug trafficking. Sakhi Dost Jom Notezai, a powerful drug baron, when arrested in 1991, was able to cut a deal with Nawaz Sharif for his release. When Nawaz Sharif needed a two-third majority to pass the 12th Amendment which empowered special anti-terrorist courts, “four Senators and several MNAs went to the Prime Minister to exchange their votes for the release of Sakhi Dost Jan Notezai.”
In Punjab, Haji Iqbal Beg, known as the “King of Indian Route” for his control over the heroin trafficking across the Indian border had close contacts with Malik Meraj Khalid, a founder member of the PPP. “Some narcotics experts believe that Beg cooperated with the ISI in its programme to assist anti-India Sikh insurgents in their violent rebellion against New Delhi.” The Sikh militants carried heroin into India in return for money and weapons.
Thus, the nexus between the politicians and drug barons that began in the late 1970s came to be consolidated by the 1980s and manifested itself in three distinct forms:
(i) personal ties between the drug lords and political leaders irrespective of parties;
(ii) funding of activities of political parties and leaders, particularly during the elections; and
(iii) eventually drug barons turning into politicians.
A study of the electoral politics in the poppy growing areas of Dir, Buner, Malakand Agency and Gadoom-Amazoi, revealed :
(a) all Jamaat candidates, despite their inability to justify poppy cultivation on religious grounds, continued to oppose the ban on poppy cultivation as it would deprive poor farmers of their major means of livelihood;
(b) Mohammad Shah Haroon, later elected as MPA distributed poppy seeds free of cost during his election campaign; and
(c) Haji Yaqub, leader of the Jamaat-i-Islami Parliamentary party, criticised the anti-narcotics measures taken by the PPP government in 1989-90, raising the slogan, “our land, our choice”, thus emphasising the right of the Pakhtoon farmers to grow poppy in their lands.
The study only points out the ever-increasing clout of the poppy lobby. The existence of the narcotics-politics nexus in Pakistan has serious implications for its political stability. The nexus hampers any consensus, even among the ruling government, in adopting measures against drug trafficking. In instances where measures have been adopted, implementation procedures are jeopardised due to the nexus. Benazir Bhutto, in 1989-90, under pressure from the US, attempted to curb the drug menace, but these measures failed due to the support provided by certain sections of the ruling class.
The nexus has also been successful in frequently transferring the honest officials from the PNCB (Pakistan Narcotics Control Board) and ANF (Anti-Narcotics Force). If the present trend continues, any future attempts to curb drug trafficking in Pakistan are bound to become obsolete. The most crucial impact of this nexus is the erosion of legitimacy enjoyed by the political parties. With Pakistan already struggling to establish democratic institutions, this nexus will further erode the faith of the people in democratic institutions and political leaders.
Added to narco-politics, another disturbing trend in Pakistan is the drugs-Army nexus. This nexus was reinforced in the 1980s due to mutual need. The Army which was the real ruler of Pakistan in the 1980s, needed the drug money to pursue its security interests in Afghanistan and northern India. The drug mafia needed the support of the Army for the safe passage of drugs. “Reports suggest that the drug trafficking could not have thrived without the connivance of a section of the armed forces… Vehicles of the army-controlled National Logistics Cell and those used to supply arms to Mujahideen have also been used as drug carriers. The PNCB and other agencies do not have the authority to check these vehicles and so they were the safest means for drug transportation.” This had two serious implications for the Army: first, there has been increasing drug use within the Army. Second, the Army officers got directly involved in drug trafficking for their own monetary reasons. For example, during 1986 alone, nearly 16 Army officials were arrested for drug trafficking but most of them managed to escape detention. The Army officials not only used the Army vehicles to traffic drugs within Pakistan, they also used Air Force planes to smuggle heroin outside Pakistan. The most glaring example has been that of the arrest of a Pakistani Air Force officer in the US. During April 1997, the U.S. Drug Enforcing Agency arrested Squadron Leader Farooq, who was carrying two kg of heroin with him in the Pakistan Air Force (P.A.F) flight that was to collect spare parts for the F-16 aircraft. The value of the seized heroin is said to be $2 million (Rs 8 crore).
I just find it hard to believe that there is some great scheme to undermine western society by flooding it with heroin. Unless it’s used through other organizations as funding, then I get it.
Sorry if I missed anything previously addressed I jumped in late to this thread and I did skip some posts lol
“Drug warfare,” which includes the weakening of societal boundaries through the flooding of a population with illicit, mind altering drugs. - Peoples Liberartion Army ‘Unrestricted Warfare’ - everything outlined in it is being played out as we speak.