File Photo by Billie Jean Shaw/UPI

TOBA TEK SINGH, Pakistan, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- At least 32 people, mostly Christians, died after consuming homemade liquor in a Pakistani town on Christmas, law enforcement said. At least 60 people fell ill from the alcohol during celebrations on Sunday in the city, Toba Tek Singh, in Punjab Province, and dozens were taken to a nearby hospital, officials said. It is illegal for Muslims to buy or consume alcohol in the country, and minorities need permits to buy it in restricted quantities. Because of Pakistan’s liquor regulations, many people illegally brew alcohol at home, and there have been several cases of mass poisonings in the past – in 2014 some 40 people died within a few days as a result of drinking tainted alcohol in Sindh.
At least 27 people are killed after drinking toxic alcohol in Pakistan.