A BLIND seven-year-old student at an Islamic school in eastern Pakistan has died after his teacher punished him for not learning the Koran, police reported last Friday.
The incident serves to highlight once again the widespread abuse of children in madrassas (religious schools) in Pakistan and other parts of the world.
The police said that Muhammad Atif was hung upside down from a ceiling fan and severely beaten by his teacher, Qari Ziauddin, at the seminary or madrassa in Vihari, near Lahore on May 29.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had ordered in inquiry into the death, according to an official statement.
A report in the Herald Sun said the Prime Minister had expressed his deep sorrow and concern over the tragic death of Muhammad Atif.
Police confirmed that the teacher had been arrested on charges of torturing and murdering the boy. Local police official Akram Niazi said:
Qari Ziauddin, who teaches Koran to boys in Qari Latif Islamic school, hanged Atif upside down from a ceiling fan in the school after beating him with sticks.
The teacher also failed to take the boy to hospital following the brutal assault.
Police said a post-mortem examination report confirmed physical torture as the cause of death.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
