BANGALORE - Three decades after Nepal tried to
shake off its "haven for hippies and hashish" label by
banning narcotics, this Himalayan kingdom appears poised
to hit a new high, with the ongoing Maoist insurgency
that is now raging in the country being blamed for the
current spurt in production.
While almost all of
Nepal's 75 districts have been affected by the
insurgency, the Maoists are said to be in full control
of at least five western districts - Rukum, Dolpa,
Rolpa, Salyan and Pyuthun. These five districts account
for most of the illicit cultivation of cannabis, the
plant marijuana and hashish is prepared from.
According to the United Nations International
Narcotics Control Board Report 2003, "Cannabis grows
wild in the high hills of the central, mid-western and
far western parts of Nepal, where illicit crop
eradication is expensive due to the difficult terrain."
Officials find the mountainous areas difficult to
access. What is more, they find it difficult to detect
illicit crops since "they are interspersed among licit
crops", points out the report.
Cannabis
cultivated in southern Nepal has also registered an
increase. Districts like Parsa, Bara and Mahottari of
the southern plains are the largest producers of
cannabis. Most of the cannabis grown here is sent across
Nepal's porous border with India into the states of
Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, from where it proceeds to Delhi
and Mumbai and thereon to Europe and the Middle East.
While there is no data regarding the acreage of
land that might be under cannabis cultivation, one
estimate put out by agents of the National Drug Law
Enforcement Unit a couple of years ago claimed that it
is cultivated in 18 of Nepal's 75 districts and that it
grows wild in an additional 21 districts. The variety
that grows wild is said to be used to produce high-grade
hashish.
Cannabis isn't the only drug being
cultivated in the kingdom. According to the UN report,
the "illicit cultivation of opium poppy occurs on a
small scale" in Nepal "but it is increasing". The spurt
in opium cultivation in Nepal in recent years has been
attributed to the Maoist insurgency in the country. The
Maoists, who are demanding the dismantling of the
monarchy and the establishment of a secular, republican
state, are in control of vast areas of rural Nepal.
In comparison with other countries in the
neighborhood like Afghanistan, which accounts for
two-thirds of the world's total opium cultivation, and
Myanmar, which is the world's second largest opium
producer, the amount of opium cultivated in Nepal might
seem small. But what makes it an area of concern,
according to Nepali officials, is the pace at which the
cultivation is growing and the enormous difficulties
that are being encountered in fighting the problem in
the predominantly mountainous country.
If in the
1960s and early 1970s narco-tourists swarmed to this
idyllic country in the Himalayas, today it is small-time
dope peddlers and big narco-barons who are drawn by the
potential Nepal holds for their business. Nepal's
impoverished rural people are understandably tempted by
the huge profits that drug cultivation brings. Drug
barons are said to be encouraging Nepali farmers to grow
opium and cannabis on their land. It is said that Indian
drug traffickers provide know-how to the farmers,
helping them with seeds and information on cultivation
of more potent varieties of cannabis.
Insurgent links Sandwiched between the
world's largest opium producing areas, the Golden
Triangle and the Golden Crescent, South Asia is a major
transit point in the international narcotics trade.
South Asia is home to a large number of insurgent and
terrorist groups. These groups are important links in
the narcotics trade, using the money from drugs to fund
their weapon purchases.
Maoist sympathizers
insist that the rebels do not use drug money to bankroll
their operations. Nepali and Indian sources dismiss such
claims. "Recent raids and arrests have indicated that
the Maoists are supporting the export of illicit
narcotics," says Kumar Poudel, chief of Nepal's Division
of Narcotic Control and Disaster Prevention, the
country's leading body tackling the narcotics trade.
Indian intelligence officials share this view. Drug
money, they say, is financing the Maoists' weapon
purchases. Expatriate Nepali youth who are sympathizers
of the Maoists are said to be engaging in trafficking
drugs, with the proceeds being used to buy arms.
Even if the Maoists are not engaging in cannabis
or opium cultivation themselves or using the narcotics
trade to finance their operations, it cannot be denied
that they are condoning this illegal activity. The
Maoists have imposed a ban on use of alcohol in areas
under their control. This ban is hugely popular among
rural women as it is said to have reduced alcoholism and
domestic violence. But such attempts at moral policing
do not seem to apply to the cultivation of cannabis.
The Maoist leadership has said nothing about
cannabis cultivation and production goes on unhindered.
There is no way that the Maoists would not be aware of
cannabis cultivation that goes on in territory under
their complete control. It is believed that the Maoists
are reluctant to clamp down on cultivation as the move
would antagonize their social base among Nepali
cultivators, whose livelihood depends on the illegal
crops. According to Nepali officials, the Maoists allow
the rural folk to cultivate cannabis and demand
protection money from them.
The main thrust of
Nepal's effort to tackle the narcotics problem appears
to be the interception of consignments. Law enforcement
agencies in Nepal and India have intercepted large
consignments of cannabis resin - some of the
consignments weigh several hundred kilograms - produced
in Nepal and en route to India.
The government
has not been very effective in tackling cultivation of
cannabis. "With the government's writ not running in
large swathes of rural Nepal, the authorities are not
able to police the areas," one Nepali official said.
Besides, the "police and army are too preoccupied with
the counter-insurgency operations to fight farmers
engaging in illicit cultivation of cannabis or to take
action against them".
According to the UN
report, Nepal is not adopting stringent laws to fight
its narcotics problem. It has not signed on to some
international conventions that aim at fighting the
problem. Nepal's Foreign Exchange Regulation Act 1982 is
said to be inadequate to deal with crimes like money
laundering or to investigate the proceeds from drug
trading. However, the government has done nothing to
amend this flawed piece of legislation.
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