On December 7, 1989, as armed separatism became organised in Kashmir, a group of militants under the banner of Allah Tigers enforced prohibition in Srinagar by the simple but effective act of barging into some houseboats in the Dalgate area and smashing open liquor bottles worth thousands of rupees.
Coming just a day before the Rubaiyya Sayeed kidnapping and Kashmir's rapid slide into anarchy, and in line with the strong pan-Islamic hue the militancy was to take on later, the prohibition remained in place for much of the last 17 years.
Liquor was 'banned' -- as were other 'un-Islamic' acts such as women wearing trousers, or going out without headscarves -- by militants. If you wanted a drink badly, you went to the bar at the Broadway Hotel, or some such select place in a secure zone.
Now you can buy booze at the Dal. The new shopping complex houses at least two wine-sellers, shops 14 and 18, the former with a larger clientele in front, the latter proclaiming to be the property of 'Singh'.
There's something surreptitious about the sales, however: bottles are passed along from behind barricaded counters, and the buyers, mostly non-Kashmiri labourers and tourists, slip those into carry-bags before disappearing into vehicles parked outside -- for security reasons, you are not allowed to drive in to the shops.
Image: A policeman patrols a Srinagar street, October 27, 2006. A strike was called by separatists to mark the anniversary of the day Indian defence forces arrived in the region in 1947. Photograph: Irshad Khan/AFP/Getty Images
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