While addressing Friday congregation at historic Jama Masjid in downtown Srinagar, Mirwaiz stated that recent banning of Jamia Siraj Ul Uloom, a school in Shopian of southern Kashmir under the stringent UAPA is a serious matter, triggering an apprehension among people that their religious identity, and educational institutions being run by trusts and local committees are being targeted.
“The state’s drive against drug peddlers and narcotics networks in J&K is a welcome initiative and every sincere effort aimed at protecting the younger generation from the menace of addiction is welcome,” said Mirwaiz adding, “also the fact is that a generation raised among political conflict, uncertainty, stress and limited economic avenues is highly prone to substance abuse.”
He said this crisis cannot be seen only through the law and order prism and headline grabbing arrests and property confiscation.
Mirwaiz said many youth today are struggling with anxiety, hopelessness, and psychological distress as a fallout of political uncertainty and anxiety about their future. “While strict action against drug traffickers and dismantling of their networks is necessary, policing alone cannot solve this health emergency, nor heal a wounded society,” said Mirwaiz.
He suggested that the situation demands a holistic approach where the younger generation sees settlement and opportunities that will rekindle hope and the promise of a bright future, which in itself will deter them away from drugs.
“Society must also honestly acknowledge that addiction is not limited only to narcotic drugs and that alcohol too is an intoxicant and a dangerous social evil. Islam has always strongly prohibited intoxicants because of the damage they cause to both the individual and society” he said.Mirwaiz expressed concern that increasing normalisation and availability of alcohol in society is equally concerning. “Official figures indicate that there are now hundreds of licensed liquor vends across J&K and revenues from liquor sales have increased substantially in recent years, raising an important question: can one form of addiction be fought while another is simultaneously expanded?” said Mirwaiz.
He pointed out that many Indian states, including Gujarat, Bihar and Nagaland, have implemented prohibition or strict restrictions on alcohol, showing that governments can adopt policies guided not merely by revenue considerations, but also by social welfare and public wellbeing.
“The government should seriously reconsider its alcohol policy in J&K and impose a total ban saying that a meaningful strategy to protect the youth must address all forms of intoxicants together…Our youth need education, opportunity, counselling, spiritual grounding, and constructive engagement—not substances that destroy their future,” said Mirwaiz.
Mirwaiz, who also heads Muttahida Majlis e Ulema–an amalgam of around 50 religious organizations across J&K and Ladakh–said that they had started anti-drug campaign in 2014, stressing the role that mosques and imams can play in this endeavour.
Meanwhile, Mirwaiz also stated that the protest by students and their parents against banking of Siraj Ul Uloom in these times, shows the urgency and deep distress it is causing to them.
“Those at the helm should understand that if they are not seeing open resentment to such moves, it is because there is no space for people or leadership to express their disagreement and anguish with such policies,” said Mirwaiz adding, “Undercurrent of resentment against these policies can consolidate, if the state does not revisit this approach and allow the reopening of this institution and such others, letting them function as educational institutions everywhere do.”
He urged the authorities to reconsider this approach and earn people’s trust and goodwill rather than alienate them by such distressing measures.
