Why Jammu and Kashmir’s legislators are pushing hard for an alcohol ban

The first-ever liquor shop in Jammu and Kashmir’s Qazigund town opened in May 2023. Days later, its entire market shut down in protest.

The protests did not yield much. But since then, the worst fears of the Qazigund residents have come true.

“It’s become a nuisance,” said Muhammad Shafi Wani, president of Qazigund Traders’ Association, a representative body of more than 1,500 shops and other business establishments. “Young girls and women, who have to go to school or for work, don’t feel safe walking past the shop.”

The liquor store usually attracts outsiders who often create ruckus on the road or get involved in petty fights, Wani said. “We find empty alcohol bottles in almost all our open spaces, whether playgrounds or graveyards. We have asked authorities to at least shift the shop to some other place.”

Abdul Majeed Bhat, the National Conference legislator from Anantnag West assembly segment in which Qazigund town falls, said he gets daily calls against the liquor shop. “People curse me. They say if I am unable to get it shut then what is the value of being an MLA,” Bhat told Scroll.

In Uri town, residents have held similar protests against the opening of a liquor shop.

Alcohol consumption has always evoked religious and cultural disapproval...

Read more