A donkey has been tortured to within an inch of its life. For no other reason than to show disdain for a political opponent. The poor animal had been punched in the face and stomach repeatedly while kicks to the body caused it to collapse. But still he was forced to endure a broken nose, nostrils ripped apart as well as having a car rammed into him. Indeed, it is a miracle that he survived.

The Ayesha Chundrigar Foundation (ACF), which was alerted to the incident and took the donkey in to care for it, is right to term this a “hate crime”. It has to stop. This treating of animals as either punch bags or toys. They are neither. But, rather, sentient beings who enjoy high emotional intelligence. This holds true across the board; whether a pedigree or stray or beast of burden. And they all deserve affection and respect.

The PTI is right to denounce its supporters for this act of immense cruelty. We hope that the top leadership will take action against those who have blood on their hands and who acted in the party’s name; despite chairman Imran Khan being a well-known animal lover. But such condemnation needs to come from across the political divide. And its message must be one that says animals, too, have inalienable rights; primarily, the right to a safe and secure life. As a goodwill gesture, therefore, we would like to see the PTI make a monetary donation to the non-profit ACF to pay for the donkey’s medical and food expenses. Though to be clear, we are not suggesting that Imran incited anti-animal violence when he referred to his political nemesis as an “ass”. But the end result is, unfortunately, the same. Thus we would urge all parties to leave animals out of politics; not least because the latter have done nothing to warrant such tarnishing of their good name. This equally applies to the PMLN, who during the 2013 election campaign brought out a live white tiger on to the crowded and sweltering streets of Lahore. This, too, was animal abuse, with tragic consequences for the endangered creature.

It is time that this country began learning a few home truths about animals. The most important being that this is their world, too. *

Published in Daily Times, July 18th 2018.