Karachi: The provincial government in southern Pakistan on Wednesday shut down liquor outlets after a court ordered to do so, to check its gross misuse in the country.
The provincial Sindh High Court, hearing a case regarding the licensing procedure for the liquor shops, verbally ordered the authorities to immediately seal all the shops, meant to facilitate non-Muslim citizens of the country.
In compliance with the court’s verbal orders, the provincial excise and narcotics ministry told all its directorates to immediately close down and seal the wine shops all over the province including in Karachi, the largest city of the country and its financial capital.
“All regional directors are directed to ensure the closure of all wine shops in entire Sindh today without fail,” a government notification read.
The police carried a swift crackdown on wine shops in different parts of Karachi that alone has 59 liquor shops, besides Sukkur, Hyderabad, Larkana, Shaheed Benazirabad and Mirpurkhas regions.
Otherwise a contraband, the local law allows import and retail trade of liquor supposedly to be consumed by the Hindu, Christian and Sikh minorities.
But empirical surveys suggest the major consumers of liquors have been Muslims.
In a separate petition in the Supreme Court, Hindu, Sikh and Christian representatives on Wednesday pleaded with the court to ban liquor as their own religions did not permit its consumption.
Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, the chief of Pakistan Hindu Council in a statement, meanwhile, called the sale of alcohol in the name of non-Muslims as blasphemous and called upon a complete ban.
His demand of blanket ban came in view of the court earlier observation that the liquor shops might be allowed to sell wine for the religious festivities of the three minorities. The provincial high court, however, would hear the case on Thursday in a bid to prevent exploitative usage of the liquor licences, involving good financial gains, in this southern province.
