90 year old Hindu man named Gokal Das was beat for eating rice during Ramadan fasting times for Muslims
Chacha Gokal Das, A 90 year-old senior living in the Sindh region of Pakistan was severely beaten on Friday by police officials for eating rice outside his home at 6.30 pm, which was 40 minutes before Muslims were supposed to break their fast (known as Iftar) during Ramadan. Ramadan is a major Muslim religious celebration and holy month of fasting to commemorate the first revelation of the Quran to Muhammad according to Islamic belief.
A photo of the 90 yr old Gokal Das showing his injured hands went viral on Twitter and Facebook, after a week of violence against the minority Hindu community in Pakistan. On the day before Ramadan celebrations begun, a Hindu-owned and Government-licensed liquor store was attacked by suspected Islamists, killing 2 Hindus. There have also been ongoing reports of local kidnappings by extremists of Hindu girls in the Pakistani province of Sindh. These attacks also follow a series of attacks against Hindus in Bangladesh (previously known as East Pakistan) during Ramadan, where 2 Hindu priests at separate Hindu temples were hacked to death.
The shocking incident of Gokal Das’ beating caused outrage on social media among human rights and minority groups with demands for the arrests of the accused. Many posts on social media indicate that the police beat Gokal Das after some in the neighborhood complained that Gokal Das was eating before Muslims had broken their fast and should be arrested.
So far the Pakistani government has not announced if the poverty-struck Gokal Das will be given reparations for the harm that has been done, while it is not known if Mr.Das has enough funds to seek medical help. An US-based man has started a social ‘Go Fund Me’ account to help raise money for 90 yr-old Gokal to seek medical attention. The GoFundMe campaign can be found here.
Pakistan consists of a 97% Muslim population and is known to follow and enforce a strict Islamic law. In many cases, tough Islamic laws such as the popular blasphemy law are applied towards non-Sunni Muslim minorities including the small populations of Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Ahmadiyyas.