The usual poison

Published December 30, 2016
The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Lahore.
The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Lahore.

WHO were these three men who had wandered into a part of Pakistan forbidden to them on Christmas Day? We must try and find out who these men were to prevent any such future crossover into the darkness.

There were three Muslims among the many killed by toxic liquor in this Punjab town. There could be more Muslims, but even if there were three, it would still mean that the system that segregates along various lines, including faith, is not working efficiently enough. There is still room for crossovers and for dangerous mixing.

It is otherwise your usual Christ’s birthday story. There have been instances in the past of merrymakers succumbing to moonshine in a moment of unguided, wayward revelling. There is always this fear at the back of the mind that, if we avoid the terrorists and if the mobs hold back, an accident of this kind might occur somewhere. Those who are employed in lifting spirits and taking lives are bent upon going about it in this country without too big a break. They must try all new and old tricks in the performance of their work.


There is every reason to believe that those who brought the booze to the party did so in good faith.


This time the tragedy chose to strike in Toba Tek Singh. The toll, according to reports on Wednesday evening, had reached ‘around’ 40 with estimates difficult to make. It was quite impossible to keep track of all those who might have consumed the usual poison this time around.

More than 140 people were said to be under treatment at the hospital after taking the liquor on Christmas. It was suspected that many more might have shared the drink, which was supplied in plastic shopping bags for as little as Rs150 per pack and which was later provided for free in a true gesture of sharing after a fair profit had been made.

According to the now modified story, a container of spirit was obtained from a T.T. Singh bazaar that sold, among other things, stuff used by barbers. Police say that those who came up with the concoction had obtained 20 litres of cheap, or in local parlance kacha, aftershave lotion from a shop there. It must have then been mixed with some other liquids, since the quantity that was reportedly sold far exceeded the 20-litre mark.

The police version says that the 20 litres of aftershave solution was transported from the shop by a rickshaw driver who just happened to have a job concurrently at a police station. This was to refute allegations, earlier voiced, that the mix was actually a gift from some policemen to the ill-fated and ill-concealed Mubarakabad locality of T.T. Singh, where the men who died after consuming the toxic drink lived. They all had their homes here bar a few exceptions.

It is an area populated by the Christian community, which gives credence to the view that it must have once existed at a distance from the Muslim mainland, even though everyone knows that a full and total detachment is never possible despite our best efforts. It is a locality that provides a large workforce of people destined to earn their bread as sanitary workers. That was the profession of many of those who died because of poisoning after the Christmas evening revelling.

There is every reason to believe that those who brought the booze to the party did so in good faith. It was not a simple case of opportunistic profiteers making a quick buck, by the look of it. The element of profit-making was there, but apparently those who came up with the concoction were confident that theirs was a safe enough invention that provided an answer to people looking for cheap options of getting suitably high at a festival. They did not only sell it to whoever wanted it. They trusted it sufficiently enough to have it themselves.

The FIR was registered at police station Chuttiana, which is an apt name given the police role alleged in the initial news items about the incident. The investigators have had some trouble looking for suspects amongst the living to blame the tragedy on.

The initial reports came up with a perfect alibi any murder suspect would be hoping to have. All the ‘culprits’ were believed to have been dead, killed by consuming the same lethal solution that they had been selling, and later on had been spotted offering for free. It was some days later that the police provided us with the hope that we might as yet have an opportunity to punish those who had brought this calamity upon us.

A team representing the chief minister of Punjab had visited Mubarakabad, where they were confronted by protesters. The residents of the area now demanded quality and an inspection by an individual no less than CM Shahbaz Sharif.

A few arrests were made — of the traders who were alleged to be responsible for selling the cheap aftershave lotion that had enough qualities to masquerade as an alcoholic drink. It was also reported from T.T. Singh that one of the men who were involved in the making or supply of the drink might still be alive, and was being treated in hospital.

This was a very serious situation, just too opportune a moment for the complaining types to resist. Similar incidents from the past, and what results all those grand probes led to, were revisited. There was, now whispered, reaction centring on the reasons that created that much greater space for the invention and sale of moonshine in the country. Once again, the ‘victims’ were quietly offered sympathy as it was noticed, like it had been seen in the aftermath of previous such incidents, that even the boldest connoisseurs and supporters of individual rights found it tough to openly question prohibition. 

Perhaps this extract from a note by an NGO dedicated to working for Christians best captures the general Pakistani response to the sad happening: “Although alcohol was prohibited in Muslim-majority of Pakistan in 1977 … under the law non-Muslim Pakistanis and foreigners are allowed to purchase liquor from licensed shops. As such the poor and marginalised sections of society often resort to home brews or moonshine that can contain methanol, commonly used in anti-freeze and fuel, converting it into ... toxic liquor.’

It can only be presumed that the authors of the paragraph are looking for some kind of an easing of the restrictions. In an atmosphere where severe limitations are placed on all kinds of trade of ideas, this is as far as they can go with their discussion. 

The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Lahore.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2016

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