75 liquor shop licences issued in Karachi, SHC told

As many as 75 liquor shop licences were issued to different retailers in Karachi, the provincial law officers told the Sindh High Court on Thursday.

The court was hearing a petition against shifting of a wine shop from Karachi’s Korangi neighborhood to the North Karachi Township.

Mohammad Zafar Mavia, a resident of the North Karachi, had moved the court against shifting of the liquor shop, M/s Lucky Traders, from Korangi to North Karachi, saying that the wine shop was granted licence by the excise and taxation department for Korangi No2 ½, but it was reported that the owner was shifting the shop to the Sector H of the North Karachi Township, which was a Muslim-majority locality.

The respondent said the open sale of liquor would cause problems for the residents, as the members of religious minorities did not live over there. Therefore, he had pleaded to the court to restrain the M/s Lucky Traders from shifting the wine shop to the Muslim-majority area, saying that it was also a violation of the relevant laws.

The court on previous hearing had directed the excise and taxation authorities to submit details of all the wine shops being run in Karachi.

On this haering, additional advocate general Mustafa Mahesar submitted that the excise and taxation department had issued 75 licences to wine shop retailers at different localities of the city.

The SHC’s division bench, headed by Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, expressed concerns over issuance of wine shops’ licenses in Karachi and inquired the law officer as why such licences were issued despite the fact that members of the Hindu and Christian communities were present in small numbers in the city.

The court directed the excise and taxation department to submit complete details of all the wine shops operating across the province and adjourned the hearing till Friday.