Rawalpindi - The 12th Inter Agency Task Force meeting among all law enforcement agencies was held at ANF Headquarters on Tuesday.

The meeting was chaired by Capt (R) Arif Nawaz Khan, Secretary Ministry of Narcotics Control, and organized by Major General Arif Malik, DG Anti Narcotics Force and Chairman IATF.

The meeting was attended by Federal Board of Revenue, Pakistan Coast Guards, Airport Security Force, Federal Investigation Agency, Pakistan Maritime Security Agency, KP Secretariat (formerly FATA Secretariat), Pakistan Rangers (Punjab), Pakistan Rangers (Sindh), Frontier Constabulary KP, Frontier Corps Balochistan, National Highways & Motorways Police (NH&MP), Pakistan Railways Police, Punjab Police, Sindh Police, KP Police, Baluchistan Police, Gilgit-Baltistan Police, Excise and Taxation Sindh, Excise and Taxation Balochistan, E&T GB, E&T AJK and Civil Aviation Authority. Secretary MNC Capt (R) Arif Nawaz Khan and DG ANF Major General Arif Malik welcomed the participants of the meeting.

Main objective of the meeting was to ponder upon prevailing challenges, synergise counter narcotics operations, fine tune coordination and cooperation among LEAs for effective drug control and to accrue maximum benefits from the jurisdiction of respective departments. During meeting, the performance of all LEAs for year 2018 was presented which was analysed  y other members of IATF. The forum was also briefed about ANF performance which was warmly lauded by all IATF members. Progress upon decisions made during last IATF meeting was also reviewed in the meeting.

During the moot, importance of collaborated efforts for effective eradication of drugs was highlighted and emphasis was laid on formulating joint mechanism in this regard. During discussion, need to further improve cooperation amongst all LEAs in different fields, integrated border management system (IBMS), information sharing, drug awareness activities, evolution of IATF as statutory body with its functional secretariat at HQ ANF, training of IATF member agencies officers at ANF Academy, emerging narcotics trends, legal issues and capacity building were urged.

At the end, Secretary MNC Capt (R) Arif Nawaz Khan and DG ANF Major General Arif Malik appreciated performance of all LEAs despite capacity and resources constraints.

They also appreciated the energetic participation of IATF member agencies in meetings and gave directions for frequent counter-narcotics mutual interaction at provincial as well as federal levels.