Sopore, Apr 17 : The Senior Superintendent of Police in Sopore (SSP) on Friday said that the battle against narcotics cannot be won through enforcement alone and appealed to the public to join the fight against what he termed a “pandemic” plaguing society.
Speaking to news agency Kashmir News Service (KNS) SSP Iftikhar Talib said, unless the public participates, the issue of drugs will not end in Sopore.
The officer said, “First of all, you should make your children aware that this is a pandemic. Stay away from it. My appeal to the people is that you fight a war against this together with us.”
SSP Talib said the ongoing ‘Nasha Mukt Jammu and Kashmir’ campaign, launched by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, requires a whole-of-society approach. “This campaign is not only for the police, but all sections of society and all government departments have an initiative together to end this epidemic,” he added.
The SSP outlined a two-pronged strategy—enforcement and awareness.
“We are catching drug peddlers and trying to break the supply chain. Along with that, we have started a mass-scale awareness campaign in schools, villages, and neighborhoods,” he said, adding that religious leaders, the political class, and civil society have also been brought together for the cause.
SSP Iftikhar Talib said, “If we approach this only from a policing perspective, it may be a little difficult.”
The SSP said 34 FIRs have been registered in Sopore so far this year. “We have seized a large quantity of drugs and arrested about 40 people. We have canceled the registration of about 20 cars involved in these cases and revoked the driving licenses of 15 people.”
The officer said enforcement would continue in the coming days. “Under this drug-free Jammu and Kashmir campaign, we are also arresting a lot of notorious drug peddlers. This enforcement will continue,” he added. (KNS)
