India’s Railway Station liquor shop causes concern in Pakistan
Pakistan's opposition parties expressed concern at reports that India planned to allow the sale of liquor in a duty-free shop at a railway station on the border that becomes operational next month. They said that "The military regime (in Pakistan) has gone blind in establishing good relations with India and is accepting all terms being dictated by the Indians." They were reacting to a media report that India would permit the sale of liquor at a duty-free shop in Munabao railway station in Rajasthan, from where the Thar Express train will run to Khokhrapar in Pakistan's Sindh province beginning Feb 1. In Islamic Pakistan, the sale and consumption of liquor is prohibited with exceptions for non-Muslims who hold licences to sell, purchase and consume alcohol. Munabao will be the first railway station in India to have a duty-free shop. It has been built at a cost of Rs.100 million and features various modern amenities. The media report also said another duty-free shop would be opened at Attari in Punjab, from where the Samjhauta Express crosses over to Pakistan.
"It's a conspiracy to introduce Indian culture in Pakistan," said an opposition leader in Pakistan. Safeguarding the religious and cultural values of Pakistanis was a constitutional obligation of the government and it should not fail in protecting them, he asserted adding "Pakistan should not allow such decision by India as it is detrimental to the ideology of Islam and Pakistan," Another leader said that Pakistan government had to be very careful while announcing confidence-building measures with India.
An official of the interior ministry, however, said no one in Pakistan needed to bother about what was happening across the border. "If they want to sell liquor in their land, we cannot stop them," the official said, pointing out that Pakistani authorities could only take steps to ensure that the liquor was not transported across the border. "Definitely, we are not going to allow unlicensed liquor into Pakistan whatever the case maybe, but if someone is buying or drinking liquor outside Pakistan, we cannot stop them," he said.
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