Citing Hudood Ordinance, SHC says sale of liquor illegal

The Sindh High Court observed on Friday that there was no provision under Section 17 of the Prohibition (Enforcement of Hadd) Order 1979 for general sale of liquor and directed the excise and taxation department to hold a meeting with non-Muslim communities to ascertain their consumption requirements on their religious festivals and submit a report.

The court’s observation came on identical petitions against the issuance of wine shops licences to retailers in Muslim-populated areas of Karachi and Thatta.

The petitioners, Irfan Ali Bikak, Bushra Ibrahim, Sharyar David and others had assailed the issuance of wine shops licences to retailers by the excise and taxation department and submitted that wine shops were being allowed to operate in Muslim-populated areas in violation of the law.

The court asked advocate general Sindh Zameer Ghumro if a meeting had been held with non-Muslim communities to ascertain their liquor consumption need on religious festivals.

The advocate general submitted that a meeting with all non-Muslim communities would be held within two weeks and the sale of liquor would be strictly regulated as per the law

 He submitted that wine shops were opened after the Supreme Court’s judgement on wine shops retailers’ appeal against the SHC orders.

The court observed that the Sindh government could not take shelter under the apex court’s orders as it had not declared the orders illegal and the case would be decided in line with the parameters it would provide.

The petitioners’ counsel submitted that liquor was again being sold by the retailers on a general basis. The court observed that liquor was openly being sold even though there was no provision under the law for its sale and it seemed that the government was merely interested in generating revenue by issuing wine shops licences.

The court directed the provincial law officer to meet with non-Muslim communities and submit a compliance report by December 9.

On the previous hearing, the SHC had observed that there was no provision under Section 17 of the Prohibition (Enforcement of Hadd) Order 1979 that created legal possibility for granting general licences to liquor shops to operate throughout the year. The court had observed that non-Muslims could only be provided liquor for consumption for their religious ceremonies for which a request in advance had to be made by them with supporting evidence from their religious bodies.