Danishwar Hameed
On Monday shopkeepers in the Qazigund area in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district observed a complete shutdown demanding the closure of a wine shop that was recently opened in the area.
Speaking to The Kashmiriyat the locals expressed anguish and protested stating that the wine shop should be closed immediately.
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“We may be a weak society right now. But our weaknesses should not be exploited. Kashmiris have never been in support of wine shops and will never be. We demand that the shop shall be removed from here,” Abdul Rashid, a local resident said.
He said that the administration should respect the religious sanctity of Kashmir and not hurt the religious sentiments of the local residents.
Another local resident expressed regret over the “dual standards” of the Jammu Kashmir administration. “On one side the Jammu Kashmir administration claims that it is fighting the drug menace and on the other it is promoting alcohol sales in the region,” he said.
The opening of the shop has also been widely condemned by political parties including the Jammu Kashmir National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party who demanded immediate closure of wine shops.
“Opening an alcohol shop at places where there is no tourist footfall in Kashmir is sheer irony. More so, a wine shop has come up in the vicinity of perhaps the largest school in Kashmir. When a number of states, including Gujarat, do not permit the sale of alcohol, this ‘license’ is for much more than what seems,” Imran Nabi Dar of Jammu Kashmir National Conference said regarding the opening of a wine shop in Srinagar.
“In the garb of tourism government is pushing youth towards liquor. There are states in India that have tourism and yet alcohol is banned. This will have a cascading effect on our youth,” NC youth leader Ahsan Pardesi said.
Governor-led administration had said that 51 new wine shops will be opened in Jammu Kashmir, six of them in the Kashmir valley. Earlier the shops were shut in Kashmir after massive protests during the decade of 1980s.