“The bill attempts to safeguard the region’s cultural and religious values, recognizing that liquor consumption opposes Kashmir’s deep-rooted Sufi-Reshi traditions”
Ahsan Pardesi, MLA from National Conference (NC) has introduced a private member eight-page bill in the Assembly to outlaw alcohol in Kashmir and other Muslim-majority parts of Jammu & Kashmir. The bill is expected to be discussed in the upcoming Assembly session.
“The unrestricted sale of alcohol undermines our religious and social principles. Our cultural heritage has always opposed intoxicants, and this bill is a measure to preserve those values,” Pardesi said.
He went on to say that alcohol contributes to crime, moral degradation, and addiction, especially among young people. “At a time when we are battling a drug crisis, easy availability of alcohol will only worsen the situation,” he said
The bill was also proposed by Fayaz Ahmad Mir, PDP MLA from Kupwara, seeking a complete ban on the “advertisement, sale, purchase, consumption, and manufacture of alcohol in Jammu and Kashmir.”
CPI(M) senior leader and MLA Kulgam M Y Tarigami, talking about the issue said, “There is a set procedure and the procedure is that the bill is first introduced and then put up for discussion before being put to vote. If the bill will be in the business of the House in the upcoming Assembly session, we need to see how the government replies to it. But when it comes to numbers and voting, I don’t think that there would be a problem”. However, his concern was whether the bill will be introduced in the upcoming session of Assembly.
