‘No need for liquor in land of sufi saints’

Union minister for new and renewable energy Farooq Abdullah faced flak from hardline Hurriyat chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani and independent MLA Engineer Rashid for “hurting Muslim sensibilities”.

A day after he advocated opening of cinema and liquor shops in the Valley, Union minister for new and renewable energy Farooq Abdullah faced flak from hardline Hurriyat chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani and independent MLA Engineer Rashid for “hurting Muslim sensibilities”.

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“Kashmir valley is an abode of saints and seers. There is no place for liquor shops and cinema halls here...The Abdullah family is responsible for waywardness and several social evils in Kashmir," said Geelani on Tuesday.

“It was the National Conference who in 1978 provided a constitutional cover to liquor in the state assembly… Liquor is prohibited in Islam and saints in the valley have been fighting the evil all their lives,” he added.

Addressing a gathering in Srinagar on Monday, Abdullah had said re-opening of cinema halls and liquor shops would “give a boost to the tourism industry which is the backbone of the local economy".

Independent MLA from north Kashmir’s Langate Constituency Engineer Rashid said, “Tourists do not come to Kashmir to drink liquor and visit cinemas halls; they come to enjoy the natural beauty of this place.”