(PAKISTAN PERSPECTIVE) Tahir Anwar Pasha
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108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR PARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS CURRENT PROBLEMS IN THE COMBAT OF TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME (PAKISTAN PERSPECTIVE) Tahir Anwar Pasha* I. INTRODUCTION spending rules and subsequent audits. Similarly, the proceeds of crime are not “Organized Crime”, initially easily accessible to law officers on various synonymous to a certain Italian counts. Criminals use intricate phenomena like ‘Mafia’, ‘Camorra’ etc., has methodologies to camouflage the proceeds now extended to cover the whole world and of crime and there are problems of is the most dificult challenge to criminal jurisdiction across national borders. Under justice policies. Criminals no longer live these circumstances it becomes almost an within the parameters of national impossible task to prosecute and punish boundaries. It facilitates criminals to the offenders who operate transnationally. operate transnationally, both in terms of The immunity so provided to crime finance and their own security. They don’t operators is fast becoming the vehicle of a encounter the difficulties - which the law multi-fold increase in the transnational enforcers face - when crossing national organized crime. This has been felt by most borders for ulterior motives. of the developed (and developing) countries and the issue of transnational organized The recent decades have seen an crime began to echo in international information explosion which has reduced forums. Think tanks remained busy for the world into a global village. Internet many million of hours to overcome the operations and satellite communications difficulties in combatting transnational are biased in favour of criminals rather crime. Discussions, Seminars Workshops, than the proponents of the criminal justice Symposiums, Conventions, Treaties etc. system. Just a delay of hours - which is not were designed to construct dams on the unusual in official channels - can create a gushing flow of illicit channels. Some of gap of thousands of miles and man hours these efforts, though slow, created an in the efforts to bring criminals to justice. inpact and the desired results, but most of them remaind ineffective due to technology Law enforcers always fall behind in advances (of which the criminals are better matching the wealth of crime syndicates. availers). It is these riches which infact persuade the talented unemployed to keep on joining It is in this context that the present shady activities. They obviously get a paper has been written, to take stock of the greater benefit, with less effort than they problems which the world is still facing in could through legitimate sources. Crime the combat of transnational offenders. In organizers do not have to pass through the this paper, I shall deal with issues from my cumbersome procedural requirements of own country’s point of view on the following demands, budgets, requisitions, sanctions, type of transnational crime: * Deputy Inspector General of Police, Central Police (a) Illicit drug trafficking. Office in Lahore, Pakistan. (b) Illicit firearms trafficking. 147 RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54 (c) Smuggling of illegal migrants. stringent laws and measures taken both (d)Illicit trafficking in women and nationally and internationally, this children. problem has almost come to a halt in (e) Illicit trafficking in stolen motor Pakistan. There were periods in the vehicles. previous years when zero illegal (f) Money laundering. immigration was recorded. (g) Transnational economic crimes (e.g., large-scale fraud targeted at Illicit trafficking in women and children corporations or organizations, credit is also not much of a problem in Pakistan. card fraud, counterfeit currency of There was some illicit traffic from a financial cheques, fraud by way of neighbouring region and one far eastern manipulating computer systems or country of women for prostitution other high technology equipment). (disguised at house maids). Similarly there was some trade of children from the As far as Pakistan is concerned, illicit southern part of Punjab (the biggest drug trafficking and resultant money province of Pakistan) to some middle laundering are the most relevent issues. eastern countries for the purpose of camel The other types of crime mentioned above races. Although the immigration was legal are either not prevalent nationally - like and was with the consent of the parents or large scale frauds targeted at corporations guardians, it was still considered illicit on or organizations, credit card fraud, humanitarian grounds. Both these issues counterfeit currency or financial cheques, have since died down due to effective fraud by manipulating computer systems checks by the law enforcement agencies of etc. - or if they are prevailing, they are not Pakistan and elsewhere. of much concern. Transnational trade of stolen vehicles is There may be sporadic cases of illicit a recent phenomena as far as Pakistan is firearms trafficking in Pakistan, but no concerned. Our western borders are organized gangs dealing in such nefarious inhabited by tribal groups on both sides. activities have come to notice. However, The area is called, in the local language, there was the fallout of the Afghan war, “Illaqa Ghair”, meaning, the land of aliens. when Afghan refugees sneaked into The tribes traditionally don’t acknowledge Pakistan’s tribal area along with their the international boundaries. Their free arms, some of which were lethal and high movement provides opportunities to tech, for barter trade. This issue has come establish safe havens - on the other side of to a lower level after the war turned into the border - for contraband items. These an internal civil war, and the Pakistan havens have become smuggling rendezvous border side of Afghanistan came under the points because of the restrictions or heavy occupation of the Talibans. duties imposed on certain items, which includes vehicles. The vehicles are There was a time when money values transported to settled areas of Pakistan had changed in Pakistan - like many other illegally and plied on roads with fictitious developing nations - and most of the skilled/ number plates. Similary, vehicles stolen unskilled workers sought employment from the settled areas of Pakistan - mostly abroad in move affluent countries. A luxury cars & vans - are transported to mushrooming growth of gangs dealing in tribal areas from where they are sold at illegal immigrants was noticed. These dirt cheap prices or returned to the actual gangs operated transnationally. With owner after receiving “handling charges”, 148 108TH INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR PARTICIPANTS’ PAPERS which often amount to millions of rupees. convert opium into heroin. This is This problem is almost a localized issue how heroin - discovered back in 1898 which can only technically be termed as - was introduced to this part of the transnational. world in 1980. This leaves us with the actual problem As against 800,000 square kilometers of area for Pakistan i.e. drug trafficking and territory, opium production is confined to the resultant money laundering, which only a few isolated pockets of Pakistan. The consumes most of the energy of law area under cultivation has been reduced enforcment in Pakistan. from 32,200 hectares in 1978, to 5215 in 1995; and poppy production from an II. DRUG TRAFFICKING: estimated 800 tons in 1978-79, to 109.5 CURRENT SITUATION tons in 1995. In 1996 opium production was Drugs have remained a social menace, further reduced to only 2.8 metric tons. (in some form or other) since the time Pakistan is thus no longer a central immemorial. We can not overlook the producer country. It is thus clear that a very opium addiction in China, which paved way negligible area of Pakistan territory was for the revolution. The Indian subcontinent connected with narcotics in the past. Since too, has remained in the spiral of addiction. 1996 Pakistan has ceased to be a producer There is always a growing demand which, contry. as per economic theory, creates the resultant supply. In this regard the The war in Afghanistan led to porous situation in Pakistan is no different. borders with the country, resulting in spread of the narco-guncultre. With no A. Pakistan a Victim - not a Source heroin addicts in 1979, Pakistan is now Country burdened with 1.52 million heroin addicts. At the time of independence in 1947, Pakistan needs anything between 600 or Pakistan was a unable to supply its own 800 tons of poppy or 60 to 80 tons of heroin opium addicts, therefore opium was per year to feed its own drug addicts. We imported from India until 1956. After 1956, are, now therefore, net importers not a few areas were allowed to produce exporters of heroin. ‘licensed opium’ under strict controls. The numer of opium addicts never reached a B. Alarming Domestic Consumption significant mark. The production of On the consumption side of heroin licensed opium continued until 1979, when Pakistan is badly effected. To know the two very important developments took actual ground situation, a “National place: Survey on Drug Abuse” was conducted in 1993. The survey dawned facts which (a) The Islamic revolution of Iran in created panic among sociologists. The February 1979; following are the salient features of the (b) The promulgation of the Islamic survey: Hudood laws in Pakistan which totally banned opium production. (a) There are 3.1 million drug users (0.77 Farmers were therefore left with million in 1988). huge stockpiles - about 800 tons of (b) Most popular drug is heroin, which opium - and did not know what to do is used by 1.52 million (51%). with them At this point, some (c) Second most popular drug is hashish, Westerners taught them how to used by 0.89 million (29.5%) 149 RESOURCE MATERIAL SERIES No. 54 (d) Proportion of drug users: subsistence. Cultivantion of poppy was also Urban - 52% encouraged by the then colonial Rural - 48% government for export to China. Still the (e) 71.5% of drug users were under 35 area constitutes a very small fraction of the years of age with the highest “Golden Crescent” of South West Asia.