Whiskey woes troubling Pak party-lovers!

The sale of liquor is banned in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,but there is no stopping bootleggers though the length and breadth of the country.

They operate from homes in posh localities in cities like Islamabad and their neighbours too never seem to mind the transactions.

Sales peak during weekends,when it is not unusual to spot even women driving up to buy liquor and crates of beer.

Bootleggers,more often than not,hail from the majority Muslim community.

Fewer cars have been pulling up at a popular “booze joint” in Islamabad’s posh Sector F6-1 to buy alcohol from one of the city’s best-known bootleggers.

Johnny Walker Black Label,one of the most sought after brands,is being sold for up to Rs 9,000 a bottle.

Popular New Year party hosts have cut down on guests because of the shortage.

The story is more or less the same in Lahore.

“The price of Black Label,one of the most popular brands of whiskey among Lahoris,has doubled since a consignment destined for this city’s black market for alcohol was confiscated in Islamabad a month ago.

A bottle of Black Label is now selling for Rs8,000-9,000,” read a report in the Express Tribune newspaper.

“We’ve been getting Chivas Regal but that is now running short too,” the daily quoted a party planner as saying.

A bootlegger in Lahore described the shortage as unprecedented: “A bootlegger who has been supplying liquor to people’s houses in Lahore for 10 years said that alcohol shortages were common at this time of year,but this time the shortage was severe.”

An organiser of an event management company that is hosting its first event at a farmhouse in Bedian tonight told the Express Tribune that he had asked friends in Islamabad to bring him “the good stuff” from contacts in the capital.

“We are stocking up on beer and red and white wine here,” he said.

Pakistan was officially declared “dry” in 1977.

Under the law,alcohol can’t be drunk by 97 per cent of the country’s population.

The lone brewery in the country,Murree Brewery,caters to the remaining three per cent,comprising Christians,Hindus and Parsis.

Besides bootleggers,some of the well-heeled depend on friends in the diplomatic circuit.

Several alcohol detox centres being run in the country’s main cities are proof of the presence of alcoholics.

One such centre is WillingWays,which regularly places advertisements in newspapers and magazines and has a 24-hour helpline.

“Act now. We have a step by step plan for his recovery. Don’t suffer in silence.

You have waited too long for a miracle,” the advertisement states.

A recent study conducted by Waseem Haider ,a surgeon at the Medico-Legal Punjab office in Lahore,concluded that Pakistan’s Muslims,including women and adolescents,are more prone to becoming addicted to liquor than members of other communities.

Through data collected over five years,Haider found that addiction to alcohol is higher among Muslim men and women in urban areas than members of the Christian,Hindu and other minority communities.

Of the 1,560 intoxication cases detected by police and reported to the medico-legal office in the past five years,Muslims accounted for 92.89 per cent while people from other religions comprised 7.11 per cent.

The analysis of cases showed that even children aged between 10 and 15 years were consuming alcohol.