‘Free Kashmir’ will not ban liquor consumption: Geelani
By IANSThursday, October 21, 2010
NEW DELHI - Kashmiri hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani Thursday said he would allow the sale of liquor in an “independent” Jammu and Kashmir so that the minorities could enjoy their rights.
“The system of justice in an independent Jammu and Kashmir would be such that liquor would be prohibited for the Muslim majority but if minorities feel they want to have liquor they would be allowed as their right,” he said.
He was replying to a question at a seminar here when other speakers said that Kashmiri separatist leaders had a vague idea on how the Kashmiri society would emerge if the state is given “freedom” from India.
Geelani said it would be a secular state such that “if a member of a majority Muslim community accidentally breaks a liquor bottle of a minority member, the system will pay the penalty for the damage. Or else, the offender will have to pay penalty for the damage.”
An Islamist separatist campaign erupted in the Kashmir Valley in 1989 when it emerged that Muslim militants prohibited sale and consumption of liquor.
The ban is still in vogue and it is for the first time Geelani, a hardcore Pakistan supporter, has spoken in favour of liquor sale in the Kashmir Valley.
The seminar was organised by The Campaign for Relief of Political Prisoners.
