KARACHI, April 21: An elderly man was tied to a column of building with a rope until he fainted after having been through the ordeal for about 10 hours by some people who suspected that he was trying to steal a tap of a mosque’s Sabeel in Mithadar.

The people also resisted attempts by Abdul Sattar Edhi to rescue the man.

An Edhi Foundation press release said that custodians of the mosque did not allow its volunteers to take the suspect to police. Eventually, police were called to rescue him, it added. DSP Mithadar Haseeb Beg said that the man was rescued after ‘Madadgar 15’ received a call from the Edhi Foundation for help.

Narrating details, a spokesman for the Edhi Foundation said that Mohammad Omer, 60, a tailor living in New Karachi, had came to Mithadar to see one of his customers who had called him in connection with some sewing work. While Omer was drinking water from the Sabeel, some people coming out of the mosque saw him and assumed that he intended to steal the tap. They caught hold of him, beat him up severely and tore off his clothes before tying him to a column of the nearby building with a rope. The building happened to be in front of the Edhi Foundation’s Mithadar office.

When Mr Edhi came to know about the matter, he rushed to the scene and advised the people to let the police handle the matter by handing him over to police. He tried his best, though in vain, to convince the people that the treatment being meted out to a suspect in this manner was humiliation of mankind.

Instead of obliging Mr Edhi, the people advised him to mind his business and refrain from interfering into their affairs. During the entire 10-hour episode, Edhi volunteers continued their efforts to rescue the man.

Finally, help of ‘Madadgar 15’ was sought. DSP Beg said that police, after rescuing the fainted man, took him to the police station where Faisal Edhi brought clothes for Omer. The man complained that he had been deprived of Rs450 that he was keeping in his pocket. No arrest was made till late on Thursday.