Hindu family tortured in Pakistan for fetching water from mosque

A family of poor farmers was held hostage and tortured in Pakistan's Punjab province for fetching drinking water from a mosque's tap. They were accused of "violating the sanctity" of the place of worship. Hindus are a minority community in Pakistan.

The victims are Alam Ram Bheel and his family from the Rahimyar Khan city. They were beaten up by local landlords when they were returning home, reported the Dawn newspaper.

Bheel said that the police did not register a case because the attackers are related to a local parliamentarian of the ruling party of Pakistan, Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). He held a sit-in outside the police station to protest against the police.

He added that his clam member Peter John Bheel is a member of the district peace committee, but other members of the district peace committee did not take the matter seriously and refused to call an emergency meeting.

They approached another PTI lawmaker Javed Warriach who helped them to file a case. PTI's south Punjab minority wing secretary General Yodhister Chohan said that he preferred to stay away due to the influence of a ruling party MP.

District Police Officer Asad Sarfraz informed that he was looking into the complaint. Deputy Commissioner Dr Khuram Shehzad said he would meet Hindu minority elders on Monday before taking any action.

Farooq Rind, a senior lawyer and former district bar president, said that the Bheels have been living in the Basti Kahoor area for more than a century. He added that most of the clam members were farmworkers and extremely poor. He also accused that the landlords pick up fights with villagers over petty issues. Rind has promised free legal aid for the Bheel family.