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Newsbrief:
Pakistani
Opium
Farmers
Confront
Police,
Army
4/23/04
As if the Pakistani government
did not have enough problems in its largely ungovernable tribal areas --
its forces ran into heavy armed opposition when it tried to sweep the area
as part of the "war on terror" earlier this month -- it has now enraged
farmers eking out a living by growing opium in the area. According
to the Associated Press, on Wednesday, hundreds of gun-toting opium farmers
whose crops were destroyed earlier in the day blocked a major highway in
southwest Pakistan and burned paramilitary and United Nations vehicles.
The paramilitary police had
been responsible for uprooting the crops, and when farmers armed with assault
rifles clashed with them on a highway near the Afghan border, the paramilitaries
were forced to retreat and their vehicles torched. Paramilitary commanders
then called in the Pakistani army to clear the roadblock 85 miles northwest
of Quetta, the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province. The
farmers melted into the hills with the arrival of the military, and the
scene was reported quiet by Wednesday evening.
While according to the US
DEA, Pakistani opium production peaked in the mid-1990s before declining
late in the decade, poppy cultivation has been increasing in the remote
tribal regions adjacent to the Afghan border. Recent press reports
have suggested that opium grown in parts of Afghanistan and neighboring
areas of Pakistan is financing the Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters, who remain
strong in the region more than two years after a US invasion overthrew
the regime of the mullahs.
The poppies were destroyed
under a government eradication program, Pakistani anti-drug official Abdul
Basit told the AP. "We took action only when they refused to destroy
their crop voluntarily," Basit said.
-- END --
|
Issue #334, 4/23/04
Another Victory in California: Federal Judge Tells Feds to Leave Medical Marijuana Co-op Alone |
Florida Pain Patient Sentenced to 25 Years |
Texas League of Women Voters to Study Drug Policy |
Going Dutch, American Style? Netherlands Politicians Take Aim at High-Potency Nederwiet, but Restrictions Still Seem Unlikely |
Newsbrief: Pakistani Opium Farmers Confront Police, Army |
Newsbrief: Montana Medical Marijuana Initiative Ready for Signature Gathering |
Newsbrief: This Week's Corrupt Cop Story |
Newsbrief: One Cop Fired, One Cop Cleared in Kentucky Drug War Killings |
Newsbrief: Bostonian Sues Over Drug Raid Strip-Search |
Court Denies DEA Extension Request for Hemp Food Rehearing |
This Week in History |
The Reformer's Calendar
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