Ruling National Conference president and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday stepped into the raging liquor debate, ruling out a ban unless the Centre compensates the Union Territory for the revenue losses it would incur.
The remarks came as LG Manoj Sinha's administration continued demolition of properties of alleged drug peddlers despite claims by health minister Sakina Itoo that Kashmiris were being disproportionately targeted in the anti-drug campaign although the Jammu region has a “higher” number of addicts.
Valley’s chief cleric and Hurriyat Conference chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq also joined the chorus on Tuesday against “region-biased” measures during anti-drug operations while reiterating the demand for an alcohol ban. He appeared to back Itoo’s claim that Kashmiris were bearing the brunt of the anti-drug campaign.
Many Kashmiris see a design in the Sinha-led campaign against drugs and ask why the administration was encouraging liquor on one hand and campaigning against drugs on the other.
Farooq on Tuesday suggested that the Omar-led government was in favour of banning liquor but was avoiding it because it would hit government revenues.
“I do not drink alcohol. Those who drink alcohol, they will drink. If they do not get it from here, they will bring it from outside,” he told reporters here.
The former chief minister said some of those demanding the ban were drinkers themselves.
Omar’s key aide Tanvir Sadiq on Monday said PDP founder and former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was known to drink. The PDP is the main party seeking a ban on liquor.
Farooq said the government could ban alcohol in two minutes if the Centre compensated for the loss of revenue.
The NC president recalled an incident from 1977 when his father, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, won the elections and then Prime Minister Morarji Desai asked him to ban liquor while on a visit to the Valley.
“My father told him that if the Centre gives us the revenue we earn from it, then we will stop it. Nothing happened,” Farooq said.
