Nurses Poisoned for drinking Tea during Ramadan

Friday, August 3, 2012

By Joseph DeCaro, Worthy News Correspondent

KARACHI, PAKISTAN (Worthy News)-- Eleven Christian staff nurses at the Civil Hospital in Karachi were allegedly poisoned as punishment for drinking tea in their hostel rooms during the daylight hours of Islam's Ramadan fast.

Three of the nurses were rushed to the hospital's ICU while the remaining eight were treated at its emergency ward.

The Pakistani Post reported that an FIR was registered against persons unknown at the Aram Bagh Police Station in Karachi, but as of press time, no one has been arrested.

According to the Ramadan Ordinance of the Provincial Sindh Government, although eating in public places is prohibited during Ramadan, non-Muslim minorities can still dine indoors.

After Pakistan's independence, restaurants where patrons were free to dine and smoke during Ramadan simply had to hang curtains over their windows, but a total ban on public dining was enacted during the Islamization of Zia-ul-Haq's regime.