Masti Point

It is time I let you in on a secret: people in Pakistan consume alcohol. If my secret-telling lead you to grunt at the obviousness of it, then I congratulate you on being closer to reality. If, however, it caused you to gasp in surprise, then I must say you need to keep reading. In Pakistan, where consumption of alcohol is banned for Muslims in the Constitution, we live in the never-ending Prohibition age. Behind closed doors, be it of government officials in Islamabad, a party in Karachi or Lahore, or the numbered villages of Punjab, this frowned-upon habit is ubiquitous. And as the population of Pakistan goes, with almost 98 per cent being Muslim —yes, Muslims are drinking. In a small research conducted over five years by Waseem Haider and M. Aslam Chaudhry (2008), at the Medico-Legal Punjab office, out of 1,560 cases of intoxication in cosmopolitan areas detected by the police 92.89 per cent of those cases had been Muslims. This remains to be one of the few data collected as the subject is considered taboo in general.

Therefore, the issue remains to be conveniently ignored. While I certainly respect the Constitution for adhering to their version of Islamic law, and banning the substance, I feel it needs to be viewed more cleverly. In the government’s view, the Constitution must uphold the ideals of the country. However, as we have all come to realise, Pakistan is far from its ideal Constitution, if an ideal state at all. Therefore, a reality check is in order. Banning alcohol consumption only propels people to drink in their social settings, away from the Shariah brigade’s eyes. Hence, what is not being administered is how much people are consuming. Hence, this has resulted in many a drunken elephant plaguing many households across Pakistan, simply termed as alcoholism.

Alcoholism is a condition that needs to be addressed more realistically. Firstly, we must realise its existence. This will at least allow us to reverse the condition, rather than pose the laughable question: why should there be remedy for something that doesn’t exist in our pro-Islamic, pure, pure land? People who do consume alcohol must be told to do it wisely. They won’t be inspired overnight to quit the habit because our blessed religion says so. Hence, people who don’t drink, I am impressed – but people who do, do it well.

An anecdote and a reason to write this: my father was an alcoholic. Was —he died because of it in 2007. Help was sought, but no one openly advertised rehabilitation for alcoholism (with the exception of Willing Ways). Despite the one avenue, the issue was so taboo in the household as well that he was allowed to remain the elephant in the room, and a supposed normal life carried on. Well it was far from normalcy. And while he must have been the drunk, we were certainly blind.