It is common knowledge that Pakistan is a dry country. In 1977 zulfikar ali bhutto banned the consumption and sale of alcohol to muslims. The ban was viewed by many as bhutto’s flailing attempts to stay in power, to appease the mullahs and garner their support. On both accounts he failed. The mullahs didn’t give him their support; and Muslims in Pakistan continue to buy and consume alcohol, illegally, of course.
there is no shortage of muslims who drink in pakistan. it might be haraam in Islam, but within the varying sects and strains of islam practiced here, exceptions for alcohol are made in lifestyles. there is little conversation around islam allowing alcohol consumption; usually the conversation invokes an islamic partiality towards mayana ravi or the middle way. this leads into how excess of anything is frowned upon, so if alcohol is consumed in moderate quantities, it is better than a straight out ban, which might cause excessive consumption - theories of forbidden fruit etc. following this, usually medical benefits of red wine and brandy are extolled. there is also conversation around nasha or intoxication, so again there is recourse to the concept of rationing quantity.
ultimately those conversations end with little resolution. the muslims who drink have come to accept that they enjoy their alcohol and their faith can perhaps be tolerant of their deviance. if it is at all deviance. what makes a person a musalmaan anyway?
years later, the ban remains in place. alcohol is smuggled over borders, produced legally and illegally inside Pakistan and consumed with abandon. my country remains a place where there is no legal drinking age, every age is legal and every age is illegal. as a result, there is no public service messaging about drunk driving, about the effects of alcohol. we only know one thing. alcohol is haraam. alcohol is forbidden. in recent years, people are trying to provide services; there is a rehab clinic in lahore called willing ways that specifically is for recovering alcoholics. (i haven’t heard the best things about their modus operandi so i’m not sure if i want to endorse it)
it is interesting that licensed alcohol vendors are non-muslim. in a country, where non-muslims are both persecuted and prosecuted, they provide an essential service to the muslims. i wonder if christian bootleggers could organize a strike, no sale of alcohol to muslims till the (islamic) state repeals the Blasphemy Laws.
the funniest stories always involve bootleggers. teenagers finding out they share the same bootlegger as their parents and then being in a state as to whether if their parents have made that connection or discovery yet or not. thinking about what wine would pair well with specific food and finding only two options; “red ya white?” the rendezvous with the bootlegger, sometimes on a speeding motorbike, sometimes a parked car somewhere on a street. a friend recently told me, that if you get stopped by the police right after you’ve picked up alcohol, you can bet that it was a tip-off. my friend looked at me earnestly, surveying my eyebrows disappearing into my hair and said, even more earnestly, you know they have to deal with the police also and keep things smooth.
“have you never been caught by the police?”
“with alcohol? no”
“oh, well we have to arrange that then. it’s an almost rite of passage.”
“ya mayyybee” i linger over the maybe. “i mean i do want to make a film about this.”
