Sayyed Karar Hashmi called for an immediate ban on the sales of alcohol in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. RNA – In an exclusive interview with Rasa News Agency, Sayyed Karar Hashmi, a Kashmiri seminarian in Qom, called for an immediate ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, arguing that it will ruin the social fabric of the Muslim-majority state known as “the land of Rishis and Sufis.”
He said, “The government must not always see everything through the prism of revenue but must also make decisions that would safeguard our future generations. In a democracy, the people should decide for themselves, not the government. Choices are not enforced in a free society. Statistics show that ten thousand people are killed by alcohol a year and only one person is killed by a mad dog, yet we shoot the dog and license the sale of alcoholic beverages. What sense is there in this?”
In a message, Sayyed Hashmi said that the consumption of alcoholic beverages is condemned by all rational religions of the world and yet some people have been able to bribe the religious and political authorities to manipulate the relevant commands of the scriptures to their own views.
He added that alcohol and other intoxicants are forbidden in the Quran, as they are a bad habit that drives people away from the remembrance of God Almighty. It isn’t only a great waste of money but also causes ulcers, stomach cancer, neurological and digestive disorders and liver ailments.
He explained that the Prophet Muhammad also warned his followers that participating in the alcohol trade is forbidden, cursing it from ten angles, “The wine itself, the one who squeezes (the grapes etc.), the one for whom it is squeezed, the one who sells it, the one who buys it, the one who carries it, the one to whom it is carried, the one who consumes its price, the one who drinks it and the one who pours it.”
Sayyed Hashmi further said that the trend toward the prohibition of alcohol in India has been praised by many women’s rights groups, who say alcohol abuse contributes to domestic violence and plunges poor families deeper into poverty. Laws are made to protect the aspirations of the people and the implementation of the same laws must unite the people and not further isolate them from the system as a whole.
He requested that the government of India and other top authorities implement a ban on alcohol consumption and rising drug addiction in Jammu and Kashmir to prevent further miseries in the lives of its own people.
Rasa News Agency
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