Permission To Open Up Wine Shops Puts Question Mark on Govt’s Fight Against Drugs: MMU

“The government on one hand is claiming to have taken measures to eradicate drug menace from the society, but at the same time, permission is being granted for opening up of wine shops, which is putting a question mark over the claims.”

SRINAGAR — Mutahida Majlis e Ulema (MMU), an umbrella of several religious organizations on Saturday said that the permission being granted to open up wine shops is putting a question mark over the government claims about the measures to eliminate drug menace from the society and also, termed the closure of historic Jamia Masjid as unjustified move.

Talking to the reporters, MMU leader, and prominent religious cleric, Molana Rehmatullah said that the government may have differences with Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, but disallowing him to offer prayers and continuous closure of Jamia Masjid is an unjustified move.

“The government on one hand is claiming to have taken measures to eradicate drug menace from the society, but at the same time, permission is being granted for opening up of wine shops, which is putting a question mark over the claims,” he said.

“The Jamia Masjid has historic as well as the religious significance and thus the government should allow people to offers prayers at the Masjid at earliest,” he said after a meeting of MMU over several social issues including drug menace, domestic violence, crime against women and others.

He said that isn’t wine shops going to add to the crime rate, as like other drugs, there is every possibility that the drunkards would loot people or attack anyone.

“There should be no contradictory statements and the drugs menace has to be shown doors,” he said. He added that as the religious clerics, they have already held a series of meetings in this regard, but the groundwork has not been started at that level, which is need of the hour.

Molana Rehmatullah further added that today’s meeting over the social issues was held and the participants gave their suggestions with regard to the issues.