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1994-05-02
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<text>
<title>
South Asia: Parties Oppose Destruction Of Poppy Fields
</title>
<article>
<hdr>
Foreign Broadcast Information Service, March 3, 1992
South Asia: Parties Oppose Destruction of Poppy Fields
</hdr>
<body>
<p>[Islamabad THE NEWS in English 2 Mar 91 p 12]
</p>
<p> [Text] Timergara, Dir--The authorities are facing stiff
resistance from the poppy-growers in Malakand division during
its on-going campaign to eradicate the poppy crop grown on more
than 18,000 kanals.
</p>
<p> The toughest resistance is being offered by the poppy
farmers in Dir and Buner districts and Bajawar Agency. The
government is anxious to destroy the crop before the harvesting
season in April.
</p>
<p> The government has steadily enforced the ban on poppy-
cultivation in the mountainous Malakand division. There has,
however, been a relapse in poppy-cultivation in the area with
the farmers defying the ban in big numbers. This defiance is
politically-motivated in Buner and dominated by tribesmen in
Dir.
</p>
<p> The most troublesome is the Jamaat-i-Islami [Jl]-dominated
Dir district where government officials said poppies have been
grown on 12,000 kanals. Unofficial figures of the area under
poppy were, however, much higher.
</p>
<p> The government is especially concerned about Ushari village
in Dir Teshil and Nihag Tormang and Karo valleys in Waray
Tehsil where the independent-minded Sutlankhel and Paindakhel
tribes are resisting the destruction of the poppy crops.
</p>
<p> The deputy commissioner Dir, Gulazar Ali Shah, had to face
a hard time a few days ago when people in Ushari valley appealed
to the villagers on loudspeakers to come armed to their poppy
fields and resist destruction of their poppies. Violence was,
however, tactfully averted.
</p>
<p> The Dir administration has achieved some success in Adinzai
Tehsil where the poppies have been grown in Laram, Asbanr,
Khairahad and Siyahwar Ghar valleys in defiance of the ban. The
authorities said poppy crop on 500 kanals out of 1,300 kanals
had already been destroyed either manually or through hand
spray.
</p>
<p> The government is trying to prevail upon the farmers to
voluntarily destroy their poppies. It has even secured the
support of Tehrik-i-Nifaz-e-Shariat in Dir to declare poppy
cultivation as un-Islamic. However, the political parties,
including JI which won five out six provincial assembly seats
in Dir in the 1990 election, are opposed to the ban on poppy
cultivation until the provision of alternate sources of
livelihood be determined for the farmers.
</p>
</body>
</article>
</text>