Cinemas and liquor won’t bring peace
| January 2, 2012 | Posted by Shehla Rashid under Kashmir, Politics, Shehla Rashid in Print |
JUST DAYS ago, the media widely reported that Farooq Abdullah, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, President of the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference and father of the incumbent chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, had remarked that, ‘Cinemas and liquor shops should reopen in Kashmir to give more options to tourists visiting the state’ and that ‘Steps like reopening of cinemas and liquor sale would boost the tourism industry in the state’. This has inevitably triggered an intense debate. Among the hardliners in Kashmir politics, chair of Hurriyat Conference Syed Ali Shah Geelani has taken the stand that, ‘Islam declares liquor as the mother of all evils and orders punishment against those who consume it.’ The local Jamaat-e-Islami declared that, ‘Whether it is a liquor shop or the cinema hall; both are sources of propagation of obscenity, immorality and imprudence.’ Really? If this was not sufficiently convoluted, at the opposite end of the spectrum are arguments that would make one think that the apparent ‘denial’ of cinema and liquor to tourists in Kashmir (or even to Kashmiris) is something akin to violation of fundamental human rights. In order to ascertain what the reality is and what ought to be done, one first needs to cut through this thick fog of rhetoric.
I could not believe that There is no Theaters in Kashmir.No Liquor .Thats gr8.I should visit soon.
no alcohol, fine.. but kashmirirs deserve movie theatrs…this is alienating..y dont they ban TV n computers then?
Shehla,i tend to agree with most of what you conceived of farooq sahab’s statement,though his overpowering flamboyance was very much evident in the thought portrayed,but i certainly dont dismiss his claims entirely.Probably he didn’t word it appropriately enough.If i had to claim the same thought,i personally believe that Kashmir for long has been a “forced” state,i say so at my expense,being a product of the valley itself i have seen the eminent youth(who are in majority) fleeing to Jammu overnight catching the ‘first day first show’ of most of the Bollywood movies without fail.Moving forward to things like booze and smoke,i’l say we as a society are acting mere oblivious to assume that our fellow Kashmiri youth dont indulge in such fancies,those who live in such hyperbolic illusion should come to terms with reality.At the crux of it,let people itself be the kingmaker,give them all they want and let them decide what’s appropriate and what’s not,rather them forcing them into a quint essential paradox that is relented more often than not….
Another moral police in a different colour. Why they don’t let us youth live and enjoy? Maybe they don’t like happy smiling faces. :/
Does Shehla reply?
Umm.. yeah, she does