Pakistan buying hash

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Pakistan buying hash

Niaz Ali is a deeply religious man: He prays five times a day and visits the mosque as frequently as possible. But he also loves to smoke hashish -- lots of it. Despite it being forbidden by his faith, the 50 year-old estimates he spends about 30 percent of his earnings as a cab driver on the habit. His love affair with cannabis began as an occasional puff with friends when he was a teenager, but has since morphed into a full-blown addiction for the father-of-nine. While Ali freely acknowledges using hash runs counter to the tenets of Islam, he insists it has its advantages. In conservative Pakistan, an Islamic republic, the consumption of alcohol is strictly forbidden for Muslims. Whereas alcohol is explicitly forbidden in Islamic scripture, hash seemingly straddles a theological gray zone, which could explain its popularity in the country. Even if most observant Muslims in Pakistan scoff at the idea of drinking, a prod into their feelings on marijuana often triggers a wry smile followed by a trite maxim about how good it makes food taste or how restful sleep can be after a toke. It predates the arrival of Islam in the region, with reference to cannabis appearing in the sacred Hindu Atharva Veda text describing its medicinal and ritual uses. According to a UN survey, cannabis was the most widely consumed drug in Pakistan with around four million users, representing 3. According to Qureshi, anything that causes intoxication or bodily harm is strictly forbidden in the faith. Pakistan also remains wholly unequipped to handle the problem, with the UN survey saying a dearth of treatment clinics and prohibitive costs keeps users from seeking help. At the Bari Badshah shrine in the heart of Peshawar, followers of the Sufi sect of Islam gather in a small courtyard nightly, where they smoke copious amounts of hash and listen to devotional music while draining tea by the kettle. Conversations are fluid, only to be interrupted by hard drags off hash pipes with the occasional song performed by one of the devotees. According to Sayeed Asjid, 27, such shrines are welcome to members of any faith and in Peshawar are frequented by high-level bureaucrats, police officers and members of security agencies. But Sufi shrines have been the frequent target over the years by Taliban militants and sectarian extremists like the Islamic State group, who view the mystical sect as heretical. Mehwish, a single mother of three, says the occasional joint helps manage the stress that comes with the daily grind. Although she admits most of her family are unaware of her habit, the year-old is a firm believer in its benefits. Share Via. This picture taken on October 25, shows a Pakistani man smoking hashish in a chillum pipe near a shrine in Peshawar. Read breaking news, latest updates from US , UK , Pakistan and other countries across the world on topics related to US Election , politics , crime , along with national affairs. Whatsapp Twitter Facebook Linkedin. Sign In. Edit Profile. Your Subscription Plan. Renew Subscription. Manage Subscription. Saved Articles. My Reads. Sign out. World News. HT Premium. Elections HT Insight. My Account. Sign in. Home Cricket.

Pakistan bets on a cannabis high as its economy struggles

Pakistan buying hash

This photograph taken on May 31, , shows a Pakistani drug addict smoking hashish in the northwestern city of Peshawar. This may be conservative Muslim country, where women are confined to their homes and alcohol banned, but marijuana and hashish are much loved indulgences. On Thursday nights, bearded men and 'niqab'-wearing women — always segregated — throng the shrine. Abdullah Shah Gazi, the Sufi mystic interred here, is a direct descendent of the Prophet Muhammad, and is known for his healing powers. His shrine attracts pilgrims from afar, as well as locals who worship regularly. Religious leaders stand beside the marble sarcophagus, reciting prayers from the Quran. Street musicians jam on tablas and accordions; eyes closed, lips pursed, they sway to the beat as singers chant the fervent, soulful hymns of Sufi Islam. Everyone is welcome in this communal smoke-fest. They exhale long grey clouds that dissipate into the humid air, while tapping feet and fingers to the music. Devotees converge here to feel closer to God — many with the aid of hash. And it persists in contemporary culture. Women are discouraged from entering without a male escort. Most wear 'burqas,' with only their eyes visible. At the first sign of misconduct, policemen wave their wooden batons menacingly. Even by the standards of the Muslim world, Pakistan is deeply conservative. Alcohol is forbidden. Women generally wear the veil outside of the house. Television networks censor the tamest sexual innuendo before airing foreign movies and sitcoms. Drugs are illegal too. In Karachi, however, such sentences are rare. Cannabis is indigenous to South Asia, and inhabitants of the remote, unruly mountainous regions cultivate it widely; towering green plants with fragrant buds the size of fat cucumbers waft in the autumn breeze. Zia ul Haq allegedly succumbed to Reagan administration pressure. But whether Zia was truly determined to crackdown is uncertain. With international attention long focused on poppy and heroin, hash has generally avoided scrutiny. There are exceptions, however. In mid-February this year, police seized 10 tons of export-bound hash from a warehouse near Karachi. But within the walls of the shrine, a particular brand of tolerance prevails. The stick-wielding police barely appear to blink at the illicit haze. Despite occasional crackdowns, an informal understanding exists between police officers and hash-lovers — with the help of small bribes handed over by users. One police officer tells GlobalPost that he can triple his meager monthly salary in two hours at the shrine on a Thursday night. Meanwhile, the prevalence of hash at this prominent spiritual site epitomizes the role that the drug occupies in Pakistan. A recent survey of drug users in Pakistan found that almost 8. Many more maintain daily or weekly hash habits, lighting up to enjoy a social buzz. Potent hashish permeates the countryside and floods into cities like Karachi, where it fuels a vast underground economy that helps many otherwise-poor residents get by. Almost everyone in the city knows a dealer, whether or not they indulge personally. Taxi drivers often keep a stash in their glove compartment. They surreptitiously offer it to young men they pick up, negotiating the price along with the fare. Among the Pakistani elite, young men and women hide the drug at the bottom of cigarette boxes. At home, they melt it inside their bathrooms, running exhaust fans to get rid of the smell. Then they converge on rooftops, passing blunts back and forth. Ali and his friends, who hesitated to disclose their names out of fear their parents would learn of their habits, said they probably smoke a dime of hash between the four of them every day. The amount is enough for one joint, and gives them a high that can last for about three hours. The jamadar, Mohammad Bilal, lives in an area of Karachi made up of Pashto-speaking people. He says that in his neighborhood, men sit on plastic chairs, around cheap plastic tables, drinking chai, smoking hookahs, and passing joints of hashish. The activity takes place almost every evening, and most of the men in his neighborhood sit together discussing the day. When Ahsan was a young boy, he enjoyed running his hands through the female cannabis plant. Born in Chitral — a ruggedly-beautiful district bordering Afghanistan, near the 25,foot Hindu Kush peak of Tirich Mir — he often stood in the cannabis fields, sucking the sticky resin off his fingers. He says he was probably high every single day of his life until he turned 11 and moved to Karachi with his father. He says the feeling is incredible, and that it opens up his mind to possibilities he would never be able to see otherwise. Chitral is known for its hash, which is a distinct, purple-gray in color. The drug is said to be incredibly potent, but growers must harvest it under precise circumstances to obtain the maximum strength. Immediately after the harvest, local goat farmers extract the sticky resin from the plant, roll it into a ball and wrap it in goat skin, letting the oils of the skin mature the drug. The result is a type of hash known as 'gardaa. Chitral is also Taliban country. Recently, the military has been raiding the area, burning cannabis fields. That has boosted the street price of hash. Ahsan says many of his relatives who still live there hid their gardaa in the goat skin, allowing it to continue maturing even after the raids. Now, their stash is worth much more than ever before. Though he occasionally sells to individuals who enjoy the drug recreationally, his primary trade is supplying people like Mohammad Bilal. Neither Ahsan nor Mohammad Bilal worry about the potential consequences their drug trading could have. The drug was not socially prohibited, or even illegal when their fathers were growing up. Both have been apprehended by police officers in the past. Instead of being arrested, they simply paid bribes. Mohamad Bilal said that a lot of the police officers he knows expect him to provide hash to them for a discounted price. The threat of angering the elite is usually more than efficient to get cops off his back. They insist that Muhammad himself was tolerant of hashish. Now, he said, he comes to the shrine simply to pray. We want to hear your feedback so we can keep improving our website, theworld. Please fill out this quick survey and let us know your thoughts your answers will be anonymous. Thanks for your time! Amid this deeply religious scene, the bittersweet scent of hash smoke wafts through the air. A young Sufi scholar named Abdul waves his hand as the man next to him passes him the blunt. Tell us about your experience accessing The World. Take the survey.

Pakistan buying hash