Srinagar, October 16, 2022 (PPI-OT):In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, condemnations are escalating against the authorities’ decision of allowing the sale of alcoholic drinks like beer in departmental stores of Jammu and Kashmir. People’s Democratic Party (PDP) staged a protest outside the party office in Srinagar and also in Jammu district against the order while Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) Mayor Junaid Mattu also denounced the decision. A group of PDP leaders and activists, demanding rollback of the liquor order in Srinagar, raised slogans against the authorities. Some activists were later arrested, but subsequently released.

The protesters said the order goes contrary to the campaign which the administration is running against drug addiction. “Isn’t alcohol using an entry point into further use of drugs? That is why every section of society is against this order. The imams, the political parties and the civil society in Kashmir are opposing this. Even in Jammu, which is the city of temples, the government is turning it into the city of alcohol. There is resentment in Jammu as well,” he said. On October 10, the IIOJK admin approved the proposal for authorising departmental stores to sell beer and other ready-to-drink beverages in urban areas.

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