By IANS,
Islamabad : Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari Tuesday called upon regional countries to chalk out a joint strategy to deal with narcotics, Xinhua reported.
Addressing the regional Ministerial Conference on Counter Narcotics, Zardari said countries in the region should be linked by hotline and frame common laws and drug codes.
“Drug mafias are in nexus with terrorist organisations and crime syndicates and we must make collective efforts to this problem,” he said.
The president warned that this issue could become more complex after the drawdown of Western forces in Afghanistan.
He said that instead of looking towards others for leadership on this issue, “we must lead the fight against illicit drug trade”.
Zardari said narcotics challenge transcends national boundaries.
Ministers and senior officials from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan took part in the conference.