Moonshine claims six lives

Timeline of similar incidents shows casualties occur shortly before or after festivities like Eidul Fitr

LAHORE: A few days ahead of Eidul Fitr six men died reportedly due to consumption of tainted liquor in Nishter Colony. The first three men who died on Saturday were identified as Gul Zaman, Nawaz and Rashid Maseeh.

On Sunday evening, a man expired and another man lost his life on Sunday night. The sixth victim passed away on Monday. Two were still admitted to the hospital and their condition was stated to be critical.

On a Saturday night, a group of friends belonging to the Christian community had gathered at a house for a celebration in Asif Town. They consumed the tainted liquor after which their condition started deteriorating. They were shifted to Lahore General Hospital where doctors pronounced two of them dead.

Family members, relatives and neighbours of the area staged a protest and demanded justice. They said that this was not the first incident of deaths due to consumption of tainted liquor. Recurrent incidents have occurred in their areas so far.

On October 28, 2006, 18 people in Vehari, in December 2009, 42 victims in Multan and on July 26, 2014, four in Rahim Yar Khan died due to alcohol poisoning.

Similarly, in January 2016, at least 14 people died in Nishter Colony and Liaquatabad due to consumption of contaminated liquor. On July 28 2013, 18 victims in Faisalabad died due to consumption of poisonous liquor at a birthday party.

An analysis of the timeline of these events shows that all these casualties occurred shortly before or after a national festivity like Eidul Fitr. Experts and drug dealers narrate that the demand increases manifold during such occasions.

However, the flow of supply is always low because of government’s ban on dealing and consumption of liquor. At least 90% of liquor is in one way or another supplied through black market, where the market and its illegal nature, evades many checks including quality.

Drug dealers during routine days carefully prepare contaminated liquor. They add anti-depressants, sleeping pills and scent in a bottle which is a time consuming process and requires a little bit of delicacy. They too become reckless when the demand increases manifold during times of festivity. The dealers use chemical, raw and low quality liquor that has not been completely brewed.

Brewing is a time consuming process. Efforts to maintain demand and supply chain often lead to poisonous alcohol and subsequently result in many causalities. Ever since the ban, successive governments have put focus on law enforcement. The drinking of alcohol by a large section of society and recurrence of these events makes it evident that simply a ban is not the right approach.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2019.