As violence ebbs, Kashmiris shyly take to alcohol

Fri, May 16 04:15 PM

Residents of Jammu & Kashmir are drinking more and more alcohol, excise officials said, after years of intimidation by Islamist militants.

Liquor shops, beauty parlours and cinemas were closed in the Valley after a separatist revolt against administration broke out in 1989 and conservative Islamic ideas were propagated by armed militant groups.

But as violence has decreased since India and Pakistan began a peace process in 2004 over the disputed territory of Kashmir, liquor traders are back in business.

Half a dozen liquor shops and scores of beauty parlours have reopened across Kashmir. A lone cinema in Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital, is also entertaining strife-weary residents.

"More than 1.2 million bottles of IMFL (Indian-made foreign liquor) and beer were sold in the Kashmir Valley in the past one year, which is of course the highest quantity since militancy began," said an official in Kashmir's excise department, who asked for anonymity because he is not allowed to be quoted in the media.

About 5.5 million people live in the Kashmir Valley.

The official said only 414,000 bottles were sold the year before that - almost all of them to men.

The department is processing dozens of applications for licenses to open more liquor shops, a trade which was traditionally run by Hindus.

Most Hindus fled the region after the Islamic insurgency broke out, and so the new shops are being run mostly by Muslims, even though Islam forbids the sale or drinking of alcohol.

"I am God-fearing, and I feel guilty, but I don't have any work and I've got a family to feed," said Ghulam Mir, a liquor salesman.

Many drinkers were reluctant to be identified or photographed. Feroz, 35, at first tried to hide his face with his hands when approached by a reporter as he went to buy whisky.

"I'm not scared (of militants) but this is Kashmir, things can turn upside-down any time," he said. "One has to be careful."

Militants shot dead the owner of liquor shop in Srinagar in 2004. Otherwise, attacks on liquor shops have been rare since the peace process began.

"It takes lot of courage to run this shop," said Mir, the liquor salesman.

CONSPIRACY OR PEACE?

Separatists are angered at the growing consumption of alcohol. Some smell a conspiracy.

"India has launched a cultural aggression in Kashmir, and opening liquor shops is a part of that. It is all state-sponsored," said Asiya Andrabi, the head of the women's separatist group Dukhtaran-e-Milat, or Daughters of the Muslim Faith.

"We will fight India and this menace too that is killing our society."

Her group has raided liquor shops, cyber cafes and restaurants to stop what they call immoral activities.

Officials privately admit that reopening of liquor shops is a sign that peace and normalcy is returning to Kashmir.

But some psychiatrists warn that easy access to alcohol could lead to social disorder in the region, where people have been traumatised by nearly two decades of violence.

Tens of thousands have been killed since 1989 in Kashmir, once the peaceful heart of Sufi Islam in South Asia, and a place revered by Mughal emperors as paradise on earth.

"Patients who are taking to sedatives to get rid of trauma can straight away turn to alcohol," said Syed Abinah Nawaz, a doctor at Kashmir's only psychiatric hospital. "The trend shows more and more people are turning towards it. This will promote alcoholism."

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