Procuring drugs in Karachi's suburb as easy as getting a bottle of water

Islamabad: 'Procuring drugs here is as easy as getting a bottle of water', according to a fisherman from Rehri Goth, a suburban locality of Landhi Town in Karachi, Pakistan.

Legend has it that residents of Rehri Goth started abusing drugs right after the victory of a foreign Muslim army against a ruling family, according to Pakistan's Dawn newspaper.

Others say the population boom, and infrastructure development in the 1970s -- when the access to and from the city became better -- led to the arrival of drug peddlers. Now, they openly sell drugs like crystal meth and heroin.

Scenes of women and minors lying on street corners, either injecting themselves with needles or smoking substances or simply under the influence are commonplace in the fishing neighbourhood of Rehri Goth.

"[Procuring drugs] here is as easy as getting a bottle of water," a local fisherman was quoted as saying by the Pakistani newspaper.

Some 150 people have died in Rehri Goth during the past few months because of self-injecting, according to a local activist who campaigns against drug abuse.

"The day has just started, markets are open and all you can see around is people selling and buying drugs," Salam Mallah told Dawn. "Is this normal? Drugs are present in other areas of the city too, but are they as open as they are here?"

"The fishermen here barely make ends meet, drinking water is contaminated, and the state of schooling is abysmal. But the easy accessibility of drugs has become a life and death issue for us."

As the dominant political parties fail to address the elephant in the room, the right-wing parties are making efforts to make a space for themselves.

Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) has organized protests and awareness sessions have been organized to pressurize authorities to take action against the drug trade in the area. JI is also running a charity primary school in the locality. (ANI)