KARACHI – Sindh Food Minister Nadir Magsi may be famous as Karachi’s best car racer, but he is also an agriculturalist – albeit one who makes his living by allegedly sowing poppy and guarding the cultivation with all his (mighty) force, Pakistan Today has learnt. Coupled with the fields, a number of factories also operate under the patronage and protection of Magsi – producing refined heroin that sells for millions of rupees in Sindh and Balochistan, well-placed sources in the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) told Pakistan Today. “One kilogramme of poppy is sold at Rs 60,000 but when refined, a few grams of heroin can generate millions of rupees,” sources said.
Sources said that in a report (No 5-1/2010-Dev-1) submitted last year, the authorities concerned were informed that Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Magsi was involved in the cultivation of poppy, but till now, the force have been unable to clamp down on his poppy fields. “Some 24 acres of land located at Goth Sargari in UC Kot Magsi are being utilised for poppy cultivation, and this land is owned by Magsi,” sources said, while quoting the report.
The area is not accessible to the common folk and is heavily guarded by more than 500 men armed with automatic heavy weapons,” sources said. “No villager or any other person has the courage to even trespass this land. The minister regularly visits the area along with his protocol but the ANF personnel cannot do much.” Magsi’s lands are not the only ones being used to cultivate poppy: according the ANF sources, more than 150 acres of land in District Qamber Shahdadkot were used for the purpose in 2010, including more than 50 in Toth Sargari (UC Kot Magsi) and 35 in Rahu-Jo-Aatho (UC Ghaibi Dero).
The district’s geographical proximity to Balochistan means that the poppy trade serves both areas on both sides of the Sindh-Balochistan border. Not only are large tracts cultivated, dozens of small factories have also been set up to produce refined heroin, sources said, alleging that they all enjoy the patronage and protection of the food minister. “More than 24 factories are being run in the border villages, and they employ hundreds of poor at meagre salaries,” sources claimed.
For the villagers, though, the poppy business stirs up ambivalence: on the one hand, they need money from the employment, but on the other, hundreds of youngsters are becoming heroin addicts. “Our children are being pushed into addiction. Drugs are being pushed to them instead of books,” a villager of Goth Sargari told Pakistan Today.
Some villagers also claim that they have been forced into working for the Sardars, since their land was forcefully taken away from them. “I was the owner of a small two-acre plot in my village, but the chief of the Chandio tribe grabbed my land. He then compelled us to work on our own land as his servant,” another villager said.
Sources, meanwhile, alleged that chieftains of tribes such as the Magsi and the Chandio have used their clout to not only ensure the supply of cheap labour for poppy cultivation and refinement, but some criminal elements have formed their dens inside the heavily guarded fields.
“We have information that mortar shells, rockets, LMGs, anti-aircraft guns and explosive materials have been stashed in the criminals’ hideouts, but we cannot initiate any action to recover these,” sources said. Meanwhile, while the ANF successfully destroyed 60 acres cultivated with poppy about two weeks ago in the village of Rahu-Jo-Aatho(UC Ghaibi Dero) during a joint operation with Pakistan Rangers and Sindh Police, most of the crop will be ready for harvest by the first week of April. ANF officials claim their hands are tied: “Intelligence agencies have submitted reports about poppy cultivation in Sindh to the authorities concerned, but no large-scale action has been sanctioned,” sources said.
