Srinagar, June 24: J&K National Conference senior leader Abdul Rahim Rather on Saturday chaired the first meeting of the party’s 12-member committee mandated to delve into various dimensions of the rising menace of drug abuse and addiction in J&K, and devise an effective plan of action to tackle it.
MP Justice (Retd) Hasnain Masoodi, senior leader Mubarak Gul, North Zone President Javed Ahmad Dar, South Zone President Dr. Bashir Ahmad Veri, State Spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar, Provincial Secretary Advocate Shaukat Ahmed, Syed Tauqeer Ahmed, Shafqat Wattali, Dr. Muhammad Shafi, youth leaders Tejinder Singh and Harshvardhan Singh attended the meeting, the party said in a statement.
In the meeting, discussions were held to give the right direction to the party’s endeavour to eradicate drug abuse among the youth. The participants presented their views and suggested strategies to tackle this crisis which has now reached catastrophic levels in J&K. Discussions were also held on preparing a plan of action to take the party’s anti-narcotics struggle to districts, constituency, block and halqa levels.
Addressing the meeting, Abdul Rahim Rather said, “It was not a hidden matter that the rampant abuse and addiction of drugs in Jammu and Kashmir has become grave. The kind of action that was required from the government agencies to tackle this is missing. Being the premier mainstream political party, JKNC has launched a campaign to counter this menace which continues to devour our youth. Realising the gravity of the situation, it has become imperative to initiate an all-out war against drug abuse in J&K.”
Rather said that the National Conference was determined to fight this war against substance abuse and at this time there is an urgent need to increase public pressure on this matter so that the government is forced to take concrete and effective measures to end this epidemic. “The new generation is being destroyed due to drug abuse and being a key political party, we will not neglect our responsibilities to eradicate this scourge,” he said.
