dear guppies…i know alcohol is a sensitive topic in pakistan but please read the article with an open heart…the writer is a phenomenal columnist and discusses issues in a unique socio-economic-politico context..he is making some interesting points…my heart filled with sadness when i read this:
***"In fact according to many surveys, cases of alcoholism grew two-fold in the 1980s and so did cases of death and disease caused by tainted whiskey (‘moonshine’). Illegal and shady breweries producing cheap whiskey for the consumption of those from the working and peasant classes were not a new phenomenon in Pakistan.
***But when alcohol was legal in Pakistan, bars, cafes and liquor stores kept and sold alcoholic beverages from established breweries. These produced whiskey, vodka, gin and beer brands that came with various price tags. ***
***For example, a bar or a liquor store would store both expensive brands, as well as inexpensive ones, but both would come from established breweries. ***
***After the ban however, when liquor stores were only allowed to sell their products to non-Muslims, prices of alcoholic beverages skyrocketed. ***
***Though the beverages were still in the reach of upper and middle-class Pakistanis who drank, drinkers from the working and peasant classes could not keep up with the rising prices. ******They began to squarely depend on liquor being produced by the shady moonshine makers and many poor and working-class Pakistanis continue to lose their lives due to the tainted and underprepared whiskey (Katchi Sharab) produced by illegal brewers"
Re: Alcohol in Pakistan: The prohibition and after
please note that I am not promoting alcohol and nightclubs at every corner in Pakistan because our masses will not accept it and it is against our last 30-years social fabric but it also appears to me that alcohol was banned in pakistan under political pressure not on a moral basis...we need to review the alcohol ban in a much broader context and evaluate if the ban is hurting our society even more with so many poor people losing their lives. can we have any middle-of the-road solution?
Re: Alcohol in Pakistan: The prohibition and after
excused. carry on please.
one last thing muqawwee bhai....it is your choice but at least read the article before getting upset...it is very well written with interesting anecdotal description, pictures and memories.
Re: Alcohol in Pakistan: The prohibition and after
"Of course, the conservative elements simply refuse to look for a more moderate solution, whereas others have suggested that the lifting of the ban will not only gradually rid the country of bootlegging and heroin mafias, the rate of alcoholism and the deaths caused by inferior quality liquor in the large shanty towns of the country will come down as well"
Re: Alcohol in Pakistan: The prohibition and after
one last thing muqawwee bhai....it is your choice but at least read the article before getting upset...it is very well written with interesting anecdotal description, pictures and memories.
PD Bhai.. biryani ki quality janene ke liye chand chawal hi chakh lo to idea ho jata hai. I just read phenomenal columnist (in comment area) and extracts about increasing prices of liquor with the link from dawn. That was enough for me to guess who is the writer (hence, my guess was right comment).
Anyways, I do respect your choice, but reading NFP is not my cup of tea. Call it my bias, lack of taste to approach he follows or khuda waste ka bair, but I just can't stand him.
Re: Alcohol in Pakistan: The prohibition and after
PD Bhai.. biryani ki quality janene ke liye chand chawal hi chakh lo to idea ho jata hai. I just read phenomenal columnist (in comment area) and extracts about increasing prices of liquor with the link from dawn. That was enough for me to guess who is the writer (hence, my guess was right comment).
Anyways, I do respect your choice, but reading NFP is not my cup of tea. Call it my bias, lack of taste to approach he follows or khuda waste ka bair, but I just can't stand him.
Re: Alcohol in Pakistan: The prohibition and after
^ The article States liquor became more expensive after the ban.
This guy writes well. A good read, regardless of one's ideology, IMHO. Some salient points
1) Alcoholism increased significantly AFTER the ban
2) Prior to ban, inexpensive and expensive brands available from reliable breweries. After ban, alcohol became expensive. So several resorted to illicit and dangerous to health liquor from shady breweries.
3) Addiction to heroin and other drugs increased AFTER the ban.
4) Muree brewery, still in operation, is a high tax paying company.
5) Bootlegging from China (and elsewhere?) picked up AFTER the ban.
Can alcohol do harm? Of course. Can it wreck a family? Sure. Can it cause death? Yes.
More power to those who don't drink. And much respect to them. However, this article shows how things are not black and white.
A good summary and that is precisely the point..there is nothing black and white especially in context of social issues.
Such decisions shd be based on social implications and not based on religious orders.
quoting from one the comments in dawn... many of us don't drink and wont drink even if it was legal. But being tolerant means I wont have an issue with anyone else who wants to drink (muslim or non-muslim). The author tried to imply is that banning alcohol in Pakistan has done more harm then good.
*A good enough muslim will abstain from alcohol even if it is legally available as do many muslims and pakistanis living abroad do in countries where alcohol is not banned. *
Re: Alcohol in Pakistan: The prohibition and after
I am surprised that the writer has so openly admitted drinking .... hats off to his courage but i always thought that in Pakistan if you admit drinking you can be dragged to courts based on the sharia part of our constitution...can any guppy help?
Re: Alcohol in Pakistan: The prohibition and after
I am surprised that the writer has so openly admitted drinking .... hats off to his courage but i always thought that in Pakistan if you admit drinking you can be dragged to courts based on the sharia part of our constitution...can any guppy help?
People like NFP have promoted such perceptions that is precisely what is wrong with the country. On one hand he talks as if almost everyone drinks in Pakistan and on other hand they create perception that moral mullah police would arrest you immediately if you are within 100 yards of a whiskey bottle.
Rich and powerful can get away with anything even murder in broad daylight, let alone drinking. Poor and weak can be charged with anything. NFP wouldn't talk about it. Instead of calling for availability of alcohol, why not cry for arrest and trial of fake and dangerous alcohol manufacturers?
Constitution in not a penal code and therefore does not prescribe punishments for crimes.
It is not the laws, but unfair and ridiculous application of laws that hurts us. How many people die of consuming bad quality alcohol in Saudi Arabia? People think that reversal of things imposed in 70s and 80s would revive the society. WRONG. ANY SYSTEM would fail if the application is not equitable.
One in three deaths in traffic accidents in the USA is caused by drunk driving. Now consider Pakistan. If we cannot even regulate kite flying to make it safe, can we regulate alcohol consumption? If Pakistan were an organized society where Police did their job and people generally followed regulation, then you can argue that banning alcohol or prostitution is bad.
Perhaps people like NFP can easily secure alcohol, but average middle class Pakistanis cannot. I lived in Pakistan for 30 years and I only know two people there who drink. One is filthy rich and other is a non-Muslim. It is easy to talk about how common it is for Pakistanis to drink when you are sitting in a drawing room of a 4 kanal house in DHA but that's not representative of average Pakistanis.
Re: Alcohol in Pakistan: The prohibition and after
People like NFP have promoted such perceptions that is precisely what is wrong with the country. On one hand he talks as if almost everyone drinks in Pakistan and on other hand they create perception that moral mullah police would arrest you immediately if you are within 100 yards of a whiskey bottle.
Rich and powerful can get away with anything even murder in broad daylight, let alone drinking. Poor and weak can be charged with anything. NFP wouldn't talk about it. Instead of calling for availability of alcohol, why not cry for arrest and trial of fake and dangerous alcohol manufacturers?
Constitution in not a penal code and therefore does not prescribe punishments for crimes.
It is not the laws, but unfair and ridiculous application of laws that hurts us. How many people die of consuming bad quality alcohol in Saudi Arabia? People think that reversal of things imposed in 70s and 80s would revive the society. WRONG. ANY SYSTEM would fail if the application is not equitable.
One in three deaths in traffic accidents in the USA is caused by drunk driving. Now consider Pakistan. If we cannot even regulate kite flying to make it safe, can we regulate alcohol consumption? If Pakistan were an organized society where Police did their job and people generally followed regulation, then you can argue that banning alcohol or prostitution is bad.
Perhaps people like NFP can easily secure alcohol, but average middle class Pakistanis cannot. I lived in Pakistan for 30 years and I only know two people there who drink. One is filthy rich and other is a non-Muslim. It is easy to talk about how common it is for Pakistanis to drink when you are sitting in a drawing room of a 4 kanal house in DHA but that's not representative of average Pakistanis.
I firmly believe in a secular outlook ... so it is hard for me to accept social bans based on a religious ideology but you have made some fair points...a country like pakistan where there is absolutely zero respect for law, it will be impossible to regulate alcohol.
One more thing...i dont know abt Karachi but lahore where most of my social circle is... not many people drink. Yes most of my Lahore Gymkhana acquaintance like to drink but they are a very very small percentage of Lahore population.
Last but not least, I also dont appreciate writer bragging about his alcohol practice so openly...yes he shd have a right to do what he wants to do as long as he is not compromising someone else freedom but one has to respect the local culture and values....by expressing his alcoholic practice so openly, i felt he has hurt majority of pakistanis.
Re: Alcohol in Pakistan: The prohibition and after
In a country where 60% of the populations lives below the poverty line, have no access to basic health education and justice, let's talk about alcohol ban. I'm sure millions of unemployed youth will be very happy about that.
So typical of third world democracies, desperate to run before they even learn to walk. Yet their attention seeking ways achieve nothing apart from gathering few more controversies and creating new conflicts.
Re: Alcohol in Pakistan: The prohibition and after
PD, if any new product with properties as alcohol was to be introduced in market today, it will not be allowed.
Inebriation, loss of control, balance, damage to heart, liver, nerves, brain. Add to it the costs in terms of lost time, productivity, disease, accidents.
Ok not everyone will have these problems but more the number of people who consume it the more those who will get into alcohol related issues.
