Afghan governor says drug growing to be scrapped without outside help.
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The governor of northern Balkh Province, Atta Mohammad Nur, has vowed to eradicate drug cultivation in the province and follow the central government’s policy on drugs. “I will never let anyone grow poppy in any part of Balkh Province,” he said. Speaking at a meeting of top provincial officials, Atta recalled that the province was a leading force in joining the disarmament process and staging successful elections. In view of these achievements, the people of the province should not endure outside interference in the fight against drugs, such as aerial spraying, and take an action of their own. “We should not wait for others to tell us, order us and put pressure on us to destroy this crop. We should not let foreigners come and drop poison from the sky on our soil, because this is very shameful,” Atta said. The following is an excerpt from Atta’s speech broadcast by Afghan Balkh Province television on 24 November: [Mohammad Atta] First of all, I would like to thank all of you for participating in this emergency meeting on narcotics. I also wish to thank you again for you punctuality, in other words for arriving on time. Today, we have come together to discuss an issue which has a direct link with terrorism and terrorists. You know that terrorism feeds on narcotics and that narcotics brought terrorism to the world. We are here to adopt basic decisions. They will not stay on a paper, we shall put them into effect. We are going to map out a process to fight cultivation, production and trafficking of narcotics. Link between narcotics and terrorism As I have mentioned before, there is a close link between terrorism and narcotics. They are also the two most harmful enemies of human beings and mankind. Both of them are killing people. Narcotics kill people from inside after they become addicted and terrorists have direct plans and kill people. Both of them are the most dangerous enemies of the people. Islam bans narcotics Furthermore, Islam bans this. Islam, which is our holy religion - and thank God that we are all Muslim and follow Islam - has never said that narcotics should be grown or smuggled. Thus we should not do what our religion bans. Islam bans growing, producing and trafficking narcotics. Some people say: We do not grow narcotics for ourselves. We grow them and send them to foreign countries. This belief is also wrong because Islam is a religion of brotherhood, kindness and humanity, Islam never says that people should be killed no matter whether they are Muslims or not. Islam has never been against humanity and human beings. Moreover, growing poppy is against our own law, our own identity, our own honour and our own integrity. Narcotics have brought into question our Afghan identity and our national integrity. We used to be an example of bravery in the world but today drugs damage our personality. So we should fight narcotics because it is against humanity, Islam and our constitutional law. [Passage omitted: Talks about the Taleban regime as a mother of narcotics in our country; the Taleban has been physically eliminated from the Afghan holy soil but their spirit, which is narcotic, still remains] More : accessmylibrary.com |