Confusion reigns over alcohol, hashish notification
Directions were given to avoid registration of cases where the amount of contraband was within a personal consumption range
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Pakistan’s prohibition laws — introduced in 1977 by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and later amended by General Ziaul Haq under The Prohibition (Enforcement of Hadd) Order — bars Muslims from purchasing, possessing, or consuming alcohol except for medical reasons. But in practice, the law is only applied to the poor, as most wealthy persons unlucky enough to be caught can pay their way out at checkposts. On December 18 last year, the office of the inspector general of the Islamabad Police “mistakenly” issued a letter directing officials to look the other way if anyone was caught with one bottle of liquor or small quantities of hashish. Under the notification, for the last three months, one bottle of liquor or a few joints worth of hashish had essentially been decriminalised.
