In the latest incident of horrific animal abuse to make headlines in Pakistan, unknown assailants severed two legs of a buffalo in Gujrat, highlighting a worrying trend of victimizing the voiceless with little to no consequences for the perpetrators.
The Gujrat incident targeted the sole means of livelihood for an impoverished family, which has registered a case with police, though there is little likelihood of any justice. The shocking case of brutality follows the recent mutilation of a camel in Sindh, which itself followed a case of a landlord chopping the leg off another camel for straying into his land. Separately, a buffalo in Sargodha had its tongue cut off, and a donkey in Muzaffargarh had its legs severed. The cases suggest an increasingly cruel norm of violence toward animals.
Such acts are an unfortunate inevitability in a country where political parties and their supporters use animals as props in rallies and protests. The ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) has in the past paraded drugged lions and tigers during its rallies—though has since announced a halt to the practice amidst mounting public criticism. In 2018, a donkey with the name ‘Nawaz’ written on it was beaten to a pulp, while a dog wrapped in the flag of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was shot dead. These brutal spectacles normalize cruelty, treating animals as disposable symbols rather than sentient beings.
Pakistan’s laws criminalize cruelty to animals, but carry weak penalties and enforcement is rare, if not nonexistent. The gap between law and live reality is wide, with many perpetrators belonging to influential families, making it inconvenient for authorities to take definitive action. Meanwhile, there is no telling how many animals suffer out of public view.
For many in this country, any call for animal welfare invites derision as a concern secondary to ensuring the welfare of its people. Yet numerous studies make clear that cruelty to animals is an early warning sign of broader interpersonal violence: people who harm animals are statistically more likely to harm humans. Using animals to shame or dehumanize political rivals reflects this, highlighting a culture that sees both creatures and people perceived as “others” as lesser. Any tolerance of animal abuse inevitably emboldens cruelty, normalizing violence in all its forms.
Pakistan cannot allow this ethical crisis to go unchecked. Authorities must ensure the strict enforcement of existing laws with zero leniency for the powerful, while Parliament must enact stronger legislation that serves as deterrence against future cruelty. Society must also take ownership, organizing awareness campaigns at the school and community levels to shift the public’s perception toward animals as sentient beings, deserving compassion, not cruelty.
Those who brutalize animals are testing the limits of social and moral boundaries. If their actions are allowed to continue unchecked, their next victims may very well be vulnerable humans. Pakistan must make clear that cruelty—especially against the voiceless—is intolerable. Anything less does a disservice to not only the vulnerable animals that share our planet, but to humanity as a whole.