Srinagar: Is the bottle finally coming out of the closet in Kashmir? It does seem so as liquor sales are heading north in the Valley, notwithstanding a ban by terrorists. And this has led even the hospitality industry to breathe a little easy.
Alcohol sales have touched a new high in the predominantly Muslim Kashmir Valley - with nearly 1.3 million bottles of liquor sold from November 2008 to July 2009, according to official figures.
It includes 700,000 bottles of Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) - 20,000 bottles of whisky distilled locally and 600,000 bottles of beer. The figures may not be striking for many but is significant in a society where alcohol consumption has been banned by Islamist militants since 1989.
Alchohol sales have also been rising over the last few years. During 2007-08, over 800,000 bottles of liquor were sold in the Kashmir Valley, compared to 500,000 bottles in 2006-07.
This despite the fact that there are only five licensed liquor shops in the valley -- one in Batwara near an army cantonment, three on the Boulevard road on the bank of the Dal Lake here, and one in the tourist resort of Gulmarg.
All of them do brisk business as they are located in high-security zones.
Budget hotels in Srinagar had stopped serving liquor in their restaurants following the militant ban, though alcohol was always available at five-star hotels, resorts and a few guesthouses where owners would secretly hand over an exorbitantly priced bottle from under the counter.
But the scene is different today.
Bars in Srinagar hotels on weekends teem with Bacchus lovers, including many locals.
According to state Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather, the government earned Rs.242 crore (Rs.2.42 billion) in 2007-08, Rs.211 crore in 2006-07 and Rs.203 crore in 2005-06 from liquor duty, a major source of revenue. This includes the liquor consumption in Jammu and Ladakh regions where there is no ban.
Liquor baron Vijay Mallya had proposed early this year to restart cultivation of hops - used in the manufacture of beer - in Kashmir but the plan was shot down by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah who said "religious sentiments of people" were important.
Abdullah's response followed a huge public outcry over Mallya's plans. Muslim clergy and moral vigilantes have been on a mission to stop liquor in Kashmir, though the sales figures are an indication of their failure.
Militant outfit Allah Tigers had issued a blanket ban on the sale and consumption of liquor in 1989 when insurgency erupted in Kashmir. Many liquor shops were ransacked and looted, forcing them to shut down.
The liquor ban had also hit the tourism sector hard.
"The ban on liquor sales indeed affected the tourism sector in Kashmir as alcohol had to be served secretly to guests. But with the sales going up, we hope the word spreads that the scene is not that bad in Kashmir," said Majid Iqbal, a hotelier in Gulmarg.
"Earlier, we were very secretive about serving drinks, but now we could serve it on order though we don't stock it in our bar."
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