KARACHI, Feb 12: One of the main reasons behind the widespread availability of illicit liquor in Sindh is the limited size of the excise and taxation department’s force, as 5,000 employees have to keep watch over the whole of the province, along with their duty of revenue collection.

This was stated by Excise and Taxation Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla during question hour on the floor of the house in Thursday’s thinly attended Sindh Assembly session.

He was responding to a supplementary question put forth by the Pakistan People’s Party’s Haji Mohammad Hayat Khan Talpur, who said that illicit liquor was available “in every house of Mirpurkhas”, which is the member’s constituency.

Mr Chawla said that the strength of his department’s force had been determined in 1970 and had not been increased since, while adding that the department was responsible for collecting 30 per cent of Sindh’s revenue. “However, we are trying to keep a check on illicit liquor. We have sealed many factories in Karachi’s Mehmoodabad.”

To this Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza interjected and said: “Directly or indirectly the police are responsible. We have captured more than double (the number of bootleggers) than the excise department.”

Hayat Khan Talpur had originally asked the excise minister if it was true that raw liquor was being produced and sold in Sindh and if so, what was being done about it.

In his written reply, Mukesh Kumar had stated that during the financial year 2007-08, a total of 112 cases were registered while 113 people involved in the manufacture and sale of illicit liquor in Sindh were arrested. He added that the most cases (35) were registered in Hyderabad division, where 36 people were arrested and 15,435 litres of illicit/poisonous liquor were seized.

A member pointed out that though factories manufacturing illicit liquor were closed down, they managed to start up again. Mukesh Kumar said that his department arrests the people involved, seizes the equipment and liquor and seals the premises. “After that the matter goes to the home department and the courts.”

Gutka menace

The ruling party’s Rukhsana Shah pointed out that gutka was widely available in Thatta, to which the minister replied that the substance was banned throughout Sindh.

A legislator said that gutka was also an intoxicant. She added that some lower-grade officers of the police were involved in the illegal supply of liquor.

This comment prompted Zulfiqar Mirza to address the house. “I cannot become everyone’s mother. Everybody needs to help reform society. I have tried to stop the sale of gutka. However, politicians put pressure on me and make sifarish. If you promise here to end sifarish, I will clear things up in three days,” the home minister said in reference to political interference involved in getting violators of the law off the hook.

A member asked the excise minister if children addicted to sniffing glue and other addicts came under the jurisdiction of his department. Mukesh Kumar replied in the affirmative, saying that addicts got high even behind the Sindh Secretariat. “We hand the children over to Edhi.”

A lawmaker objected and asked why the children were handed over to a private charity instead of being cared for by the government. Mr Chawla said the government did what it could, such as admitting addicted children to hospitals for treatment.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Bilquees Mukhtar – pointing out that students were seated in the visitors’ gallery – said that a wrong impression was being created by differentiating between illicit and legal liquor. “All liquor is illicit.” She said the home ministry needed to play a greater role in controlling the spread of drugs and alcohol, adding that it was the government’s “soft” attitude that helped the proliferation of intoxicants.

Ms Mukhtar also noted that drug and booze dens were mostly prevalent in low-income areas.

Drugs seizures

Earlier, Arif Mustafa Jatoi of the National People’s Party had asked the minister for the number of illegal drug seizures made between Jan 1, 2007 and April 30, 2008.

In the written reply, Mukesh Kumar said that a total of 469 excise crimes were detected during the period, while 513 people had been arrested in this regard. Out of the various illegal drugs seized, the biggest total haul was of charas or hashish (10,609kg).

Mr Jatoi expressed doubt about the total figure of 70kg heroin seized, as according to him Karachi was a major drug transit point. Mr Chawla stood by the figure.

Shaharyar Mahar of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q asked the minister how the safe disposal of captured drugs was ensured to confirm they did not make their way into the market. “The drugs are stored in the malkhana and destroyed in front of a court magistrate,” the minister replied.

The PPP’s Humera Alwani asked how many Afghans or illegal immigrants were among the 513 people arrested in drugs cases. Mukesh Kumar said it was a mix.

In reply to a question about how much of the 3,106kg of bhang seized was smuggled and how much of it was local, Mukesh Kumar said the figure contained both. “We capture the bhang transported into the province. However, we can’t go into someone’s field and (uproot it).”

Hayat Khan Talpur had also asked for the number of licensed wine shops in Sindh. When the minister replied there were 95 such shops, Mr Talpur asked “why are there 95 wine shops when there aren’t even 95 districts in Sindh?” The excise minister replied that one of the reasons for this was the growth in population.

Nuzhat Pathan of the PML-Q said that in her constituency of Qasimabad, Hyderabad, there was a wine shop in front of a school and mosque. The minister replied that as per the law, a liquor shop could not be opened near places of worship. He said there needed to be a distance of at least 300 metres between a wine shop and schools/mosques.

The PPP’s Sharjeel Memon pointed out that in Karachi’s Zamzama, a wine shop was located in front of both a school and a mosque. The minister said he would look into the issue and report.

At this point the MQM’s senior parliamentarian and minister Syed Sardar Ahmed cleared the air regarding the matter. “Liquor licences are frozen. The shops operating were sanctioned at least 10 years ago. The mosques and schools were built later. We tried to shift the wine shops but (wherever they went) residents raised objections.”

A member added that a liquor shop was openly selling alcohol in Korangi near a church, schools and a mosque.

Mukesh Kumar said that a change in the timings of wine shops was being considered to ensure they would open after school hours.

To a supplementary question about the number of vehicles registered in Sindh as on June 30, 2008, Mukesh Kumar said that several dumpers had entered the country from Afghanistan during the early eighties and were still operating in Sindh unregistered. He also requested the home minister to deploy teams outside colleges and universities to monitor drug peddlers who were working out of pan cabins near the educational institutions.