File Photo. Rizwan Tabassum—AFP
Police say they are searching for the suspected supplier of the poisoned alcohol.
At least 11 people from a minority Christian community in central Punjab province died after consuming toxic liquor, police said on Saturday.
Three other people who consumed the alcohol at a party on Friday night in Jhelum are in hospital in critical condition, police said. “The bodies of 11 victims have been handed over to their relatives after completing the postmortem, the condition of the three others is still critical,” said Asif Nawaz, a senior police official in Jhelum.
Nawaz said most of the victims were young and from the same Christian neighborhood. “They drank locally-made poisonous liquor while partying late Friday,” he added.
Police are looking to arrest the suspected supplier of the poisoned alcohol, whose brother was reportedly among the dead.
The public sale and consumption of alcohol is banned to Muslims in Pakistan but minorities are allowed to purchase and consume liquor and some people make moonshine at home.