Srinagar, Mar 14: While the religious leaders termed drug abuse as “modern epidemic”, the Jammu and Kashmir Police, which is on forefront to nib the menace from bud, has treated over 33000 addicts at their de-addiction here since 2008.
This was disclosed during a seminar organised by Range Police Hqrs (RPHQ) Srinagar with religious leaders here at Amar Singh College.
Vice Chancellor of Cluster University Prof. Qayoom Hussain was the chief guest while Principal Amar Singh College Dr Bashir Ahmad Rather along with Director Health Dr. Mushtaq Ahmad Rather were both Guests of Honour.
The programme was organised by all ranks of RPHQ Srinagar under Deputy Inspector General of Police, Central Kashmir Range, Sujit Kumar- and it was part of the Civic Action Program of J&K Police.
In his opening remarks Sajjad Khaliq Bhat, Staff officer to DIG CKR emphasised that J&K Police has recognized the menace of drugs many years ago and in order to fight it has setup a drug de-addiction center way back in 2008 in PCR Srinagar.
“The Drug de-addiction centre Srinagar is well established today at Eidgah and has been able to treat more than 33000 drug abusers till date,” Bhat said.
Dr Muzaffar Khan, Director of J&K Police Drug De-addiction campaign gave a presentation in which he was able to show how alarming the situation has become. Dr Khan who has an experience in the said field also educated the audience about how to identify if our children have taken drugs.
On the occasion about 150 religious scholars and imams including representatives of other religions and students of Amar Singh College Srinagar were present. The theme of the programme was to involve religious scholars to propagate the message of fight against drugs to the society.
On the occasion several religious leaders expressed their views on how drugs have become the modern day epidemic and how we can tackle it. The VC Qayoom Hussain in his speech appealed to the imams that the message against drugs needs to be given during sermons on Fridays.
Professor Rather Principal Amar Singh College emphasised that to start with “we should not enter a place of worship even with a pack of cigarettes in our pockets and smokers should practice at least one non smoking day in a week as to begin with.”
Valuable contribution and comments were made by many scholars and government officials present including Nighat Jabeen Deputy Drug Controller Kashmir, Dr. Arshid Hussain Professor Govt Medical Collage Srinagar, Dr. Akash Yousuf Khan Consultant, Showkat Malik ( SSP Retired), Dr. Yasir Hussain Rather ( Professor GMC Srinagar), Yasir Zehgeer (social worker), Prof. Mujeeb Ahmad Kawoosa ( Convenor Drug De-Addiction Committee of Amar Singh College, Prof. Hina Ameen (Convenor Debate and seminar Amar Singh College), Gursewak Singh (Indusind Bank), Dr. Zahoor Ahmad Shah (religious Scholar and Professor Govt Degree College Beerwah), Rev. Eric Priest Church Srinagar and Mufti Abdul Rashid.
During the function, apart from speeches by various guests, a very thought-provoking skit and Ladi Shah were presented by the students of the college cultural society.
A felicitation ceremony was held on the occasion in which besides the guests and speakers, the eminent personalities in the field were awarded with mementos and shawls.
The vote of thanks was presented by DIG CKR Sujit Kumar. In his address, Kumar expressed his gratitude that religious scholars have honoured us by giving their valuable time to attend the program and hoped that the fight against drugs will succeed when all five viz the administration, teachers, parents, police and religious scholars will come together like the fingers of a hand.
At the end of the program, 195 participants from different corners of society including religious heads and students took a pledge in writing/orally that they will stay away from drugs and will make all efforts for a drug free society. Lunch was served to all the 250 participants.