Bangladesh government’s new alcohol law will significantly reduce Yaba addiction

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Making an end to draconian law of unnecessarily obstructing sale of locally produced beer, rum and whiskey, Bangladesh government has taken a praiseworthy step which will significantly reduce yaba, ice pill and other types of drug addiction in the country. It may be mentioned here that, Bangladesh is wrongly dubbed as Muslim country or Islamic country by many Westerners, despite the fact that this country follows secularist ideology and secularism is one of the pillars of our constitution.

In Bangladesh, because of the draconian law of restricting people from getting access to locally made beer, whiskey and rum, hundreds of foreign nationals also find it extremely inconvenient as majority of the restaurants in the country do not sell such items. While Bangladesh has been following this Taliban-patterned law for decades, a large number of Muslim countries, including Indonesia (largest Muslim country in the world), Maldives, the United Arab Emirates etcetera have never imposed such wrong law. Availability of alcoholic beverage is one of the main reasons behind influx of foreign tourists in those countries.

In Bangladesh, consumption of alcohol has not only been outlawed for the Muslims, it is equally considered as an illegal act for the non-Muslims, while members of the law enforcement agencies exhibit extra enthusiasm in harassing people for boozing. For non-Muslims, it was mandatory to avail a certificate issue by the federal government. Due to such black laws, people have to find alcoholic beverages mostly in the black market. It also forced people in taking home-grown alcoholic beverage, most of which is hazardous to health.

Finally, authorities have acknowledged this issue. It is overhauling the principles in a simultaneous bid to spice up home trade and convey consumption of alcoholic beverage throughout the legislation. Individuals will nonetheless require permits, however the course of for places such as restaurants and bars to get liquor licenses will likely be made much less ambiguous.

The new legal guidelines, which have been launched in February 2022, additionally oblige institutions to purchase 60 percent of their inventory from the nation’s two licensed producers: Jamuna Group, which makes Hunter, Bangladesh’s solely home-grown beer brand, and Carew & Co, a state-run distiller of such wonderful tipples as Gold Riband Gin, Old Rum and Imperial Whisky.

The new guidelines have been additionally designed with an eye fixed on Bangladesh’s rising variety of foreigners—from humanitarian staff to Chinese laborers toiling on infrastructure initiatives—and goal to lure in additional.

Even as home tourism has taken off, international vacationers have remained elusive. Conservative alcohol legal guidelines and costume codes are sometimes blamed.

Despite government newer initiatives, legalizing gross sales of liquor is yet to be made.

Meanwhile, lawyers affiliated with Jamaat-e-Islami abd Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) challenged a number of the new guidelines within the High Court. One point is to be made clear is – allowing gross sales of alcoholic beverage will have no adverse effect on the upcoming general election in the country. Government should not listen to unjust advocacy of Islamist and jihadists. Bangladesh need to walk-out of the decades-old orthodoxy and Islamist mindset.

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