A Hindu trader has won the hearts of Muslims and is receiving huge applause for offering a flat 50 percent discount during Ramazan on all the items being sold at his fabric shop in Battagram district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. With a large size banner hung in front of his shop `Ram Cloth House’ in the busy Ajmal Bazaar of Battagram city, he attracted the attention of visitors through the discount offered on fabrics for both males and females. “The offer has been made in reverence of the holy month of Ramazan for providing relief to fasting Muslims,” explained Jacky Kumar, owner of Ram Cloth House and resident of Battagram for generations. “Every year, I make a profit of around Rs0.5 to 0.6 million during Ramazan through selling clothes to Muslims, but this year have decided to spend this amount on providing ease to the hard-pressed faithful to buy new clothes for their families for the celebration of the religious festival of Eid-ul-Fitar,” he shared with APP. The idea of giving relief to Muslims during their holy month came to mind when a Muslim friend shared his hardships in purchasing new clothes for his children, Jacky informed. “The suit of Rs1400 is offered for sale at Rs750 and those carrying a price tag of Rs2000 are now for sale at half price of Rs. 1000,” reads the banner displayed at his shop. This offer was made on March 28 (Tuesday) and would remain valid till the end of Ramazan, Kumar added. Within two days of the announcement of the sale, a large number of people rushed to his shop and he sold around 5000 suits. “Almost all the customers including men and women who availed the offer expressed their feelings of surprise and jubilation over this goodwill gesture by a Hindu trader,” Jacky apprised APP. While leaving the shop, the beneficiaries of the offer not only expressed gratitude but also made a lot of prayers for providing them relief at the time of economic stress, he went on to say. “I am feeling much contentment while observing the response of people and have realized that monetary loss is nothing while comparing it with satisfaction one gets over doing some good for the betterment of humanity,” Kumar remarked. He also disclosed that he would make arrangements for providing stitched clothed to orphaned Muslim children upto 12 years of age for the celebration of upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr. “The discount offer on one side has attracted lot of appreciations and commendations from people but also flak from local businessmen,” says Dilip Kumar, a shopkeeper at Ram Cloth House. He said a number of local fabric dealers had conveyed their resentment over the sale offer which according to them has badly impacted their business. However, Dilip said, the decision had been taken for welfare of the masses and would not be changed by pressure from dealers. “The value of suits being sold at Ram Cloth House nowadays are even less than the factory rate and has been highly hailed by people of the area,” said Ehsan Naseem, a local journalist from Battagram. People of not only Battagram but also the adjoining districts were visiting Ajmal Bazar to avail the offer, he added. “Jacky Kumar has set an exceptional example of humanitarianism and hopefully our Muslim brethren will take a lesson from him of not making an extra profit for observance of religious festivals,” Ehsan hoped. “The step taken by Jacky Kumar is the best example of interfaith harmony and veneration for other religions among people of Pakistan,” said Haroon Sarab Diyal, Chairperson All Pakistan Hindu Rights Movement. Being an elder of the Hindu community, “we are delighted over learning that this initiative was taken by one of our community members,” Haroon told APP, adding it reflected the soft image of Pakistan. “The goodwill gesture by a representative of the minority community in reverence of Ramazan is a lesson and eye opener for us,” said Prof. Abdul Ghafoor, a religious scholar and former Director of Sheikh Zahid Islamic Center. He appreciated Kumar’s gesture and expressed hope that such initiatives would not only serve the purpose of helping people but would also promote the sentiments of love, honour and respect among people from different faiths in the country.