In their most recent incident of reprehensible animal abuse, a group of Pakistanis beat up a donkey, broke its jaw, and rammed it with a car.
What did the donkey do? Nothing but suffer the mock outrage.
The seriously injured animal was found and handed over to the Ayesha Chundrigar Foundation (AFC) ahead of the country's general elections on July 25.
The horrific abuse – which the centre branded a hate crime – was all 'to describe one political party as an 'ass' by some hooligans as written on the poor donkey's body.'
The donkey is being treated by AFC who have named it Hero. Hero still finds it difficult to stand up on his own. Since his jaw is broken, he cannot eat. So volunteers are hand-feeding him crushed oats and barley.
The assault was yet another one in a long line of protests in Pakistan where “gadhe” (donkey) is a common insult hurled towards politicians. In these protests, donkeys are paraded around and then struck – often with shoes – symbolically.
The troubled South Asian nation has a history of rights violations, among its many, many problems.
But the assault on Hero but reflects how the frustration with politicians has boiled up and spilling over.
In Pakistan, animal rights are not recognized. Only this January, the state of Sindh became the first province to actually pass a law that acknowledged animal rights.
As the ACF notes in a Facebook post, people who try to help animals are threatened and abused, because “they’re just animals.”
