Drug menace in J&K: Poison in paradise and a public pushback

An anti-drug campaign led by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has fuelled public mobilisation against the menace in J&K, and has triggered a BJP-NC clash over liquor prohibition.

Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha’s 100-day “Nasha Mukt Jammu and Kashmir Abhiyan” has not only brought the Union Territory’s (UT) growing drug crisis into the centre of governance discourse, but also revived a larger national debate: Can high-visibility, leadership-driven anti-drug campaigns become an effective template for other states battling substance abuse?

In J&K, the campaign has combined aggressive enforcement with unusual public visibility. Sinha’s padayatras across the UT, school outreach programmes and civil society engagement have transformed addiction from a largely private and stigmatised issue into a mainstream governance concern.

The administration claims more than 650 arrests of alleged drug peddlers within weeks, alongside intensified action against narcotics supply chains. Officials have increasingly framed the problem beyond ordinary crime, linking it to organised trafficking and destabilisation networks.

“Narco-terror is a silent war to bleed J&K dry. We will chase every rupee and every asset of drug traffickers, ensuring the harshest punishment for those who are destroying our youth’s future,” Sinha said, underlining the campaign’s dual focus on social reform and security enforcement.

The initiative’s defining feature is not merely enforcement but visibility. Addiction—long confined to homes, hospitals and rehabilitation centres—has now entered mainstream political and public discussion. People are speaking more openly about a problem that was earlier discussed mostly in whispers.

Experts, however, caution that enforcement alone cannot address the deeper causes driving addiction in Kashmir.

“There has been a 180-degree shift between what psychiatry traditionally teaches and what we now see in the field. Children as young as 12 are presenting with substance dependence patterns that were earlier confined to adults,” Dr Zaid Ahmad Wani, professor at the Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (IMHANS), Srinagar, told DH.

He added that structural pressures continue to fuel the crisis. “Unemployment, psychological stress, conflict-related trauma and weakened social structures are key factors, while rehabilitation capacity remains limited outside Srinagar,” he said.

The campaign has also triggered unusual political convergence even as it sharpens fault lines among mainstream parties. Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who is also Kashmir’s chief cleric, described the crackdown as a “welcome initiative,” while cautioning that drug addiction “cannot be tackled by policing alone and requires a holistic public health approach.”

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has similarly called for a broader societal response. “A drug-free J&K needs collective effort beyond government,” he said, arguing that addiction cannot be addressed through enforcement alone. He also said that nobody was forcing anyone to drink, and liquor shops existed for those whose religion permitted alcohol consumption.

Iltija Mufti of the PDP countered: “If it’s wrong to impose a liquor ban on Hindus, how did Gujarat and Bihar do it?”

The BJP is keen to push the debate into a parallel moral and political argument by linking the anti-drug campaign with demands for a complete liquor ban in the UT. The party argued that anti-narcotics efforts lose credibility if alcohol remains legally accessible.

The political tension surfaced on the streets when BJP workers attempted to march towards the chief minister’s residence in Srinagar, demanding a liquor-free J&K aligned with the anti-drug campaign.

“We believe there has to be a liquor-free campaign in tune with the drug-free drive in J&K. Unfortunately, CM Abdullah is justifying the sale of liquor by saying those who want to drink should do so. We condemn his statement,” said BJP spokesperson Sajid Yousuf Shah.

National Conference president Farooq Abdullah has pushed back against such framing, cautioning against reducing addiction to prohibition politics. He has argued that substance abuse requires sustained public health investment, stronger institutions and long-term rehabilitation systems rather than symbolic bans.

On the ground, rehabilitation centres outside Srinagar remain overstretched and under-resourced.

Yet the campaign has undeniably altered the public landscape in J&K. By placing the issue at the centre of political and administrative attention, the LG-led initiative has succeeded in breaking years of silence around a crisis that was often privately acknowledged but rarely addressed publicly at scale.

For now, J&K’s drug crisis is no longer a hidden affliction. It is a visible governance challenge—politically charged, socially acknowledged and firmly on the policy agenda. LG Sinha’s campaign has demonstrated how a high-visibility, leadership-driven intervention can rapidly mobilise administration, generate public participation and force institutions to confront a growing crisis.

As states across India grapple with rising substance abuse, the J&K model is increasingly being watched as a possible template. Its long-term success, however, will depend on whether enforcement momentum is matched by sustained investment in rehabilitation, mental health infrastructure and community-based recovery systems.