Source: www.morningstarnews.org
Date: September 30, 2024
Muslim suspects issue threats.
By Christian Daily International-Morning Star News
Abbasi Mosque in Bahawalpur District, Punjab Province, Pakistan. (Naveedulfatkhan, Creative Commons)
LAHORE, Pakistan (Christian Daily International–Morning Star News) – Muslims who abducted a 17-year-old Christian girl and gang-raped her for 10 days are threatening her family to pressure them to withdraw charges, even as police have failed to arrest most of the suspects, her father said.
The girl, whose identity is withheld as a rape victim, was abducted from her home in village Chak No. 87 Fateh Colony, Hasilpur, Bahawalpur District, Punjab Province, on Aug. 25, said her father, Taj Masih, a 45-year-old Catholic daily wage laborer.
“I was at work while my wife had gone to a dispensary to get her medication when our daughter went missing,” Masih told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “She immediately informed me, and we started searching for her.”
After some days they learned that their daughter had been kidnapped by Muhammad Asif, Nazeer Ahmad, Muhammad Yasir and Muhammad Aslam and a woman named Nazia Asif who lives in the same village, he said. Masih contacted village elders and requested they intervene.
“I’m a poor man and did not have the resources to take a stand against the influential Muslims on my own,” he said. “When the accused were summoned by the village council, they admitted that they had taken her and assured them that she would be returned to us. However, when they kept delaying her return on various pretenses, I filed a complaint with the police.”
Police on Sept. 5 found the girl, who told them that she had been gang-raped by Muhammad Yasir and Muhammad Saif, Masih said. A medical examination proved she was physically tortured and raped multiple times by the suspects, he said.
Masih said that the police have arrested Saif, but that the other suspects are still free.
“I go to the police station every day hoping for justice but return home empty-handed,” he said.
He said the suspects were issuing threats to pressure him to reach a settlement and withdraw charges.
“They are threatening me to drop the case or face the consequences, but I won’t back down,” he said. “They wronged my beloved daughter, and I will do whatever is in my power to see that they get punished for their crime.”
His poverty and Christian faith have made access to justice difficult, he said.
“There are about 25-30 Christian families in our locality, and a majority of us are laborers,” Masih said. “We are often discriminated against due to our religion, but I was not expecting the police to treat this case with such an indifferent attitude. My daughter’s honor has been violated, and she’s been scarred for life, but it seems there’s no justice for poor Christians like us.”
The family’s attorney, Lazar Allah Rakha, said the attack and subsequent police inaction exemplified challenges marginalized Christians and other minority communities face in accessing justice in Pakistan.
“Her medical and DNA examination prove the allegations against the accused persons,” Rakha told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “The police have substantial evidence to effectively prosecute the accused, and we are hoping that the court will order the police to arrest the remaining accused as soon as possible.”
Rakha, a prominent Christian lawyer in South Punjab, said that costs and lack of resources were the most prominent barriers for minorities in obtaining justice in Pakistan.
“It is the responsibility of the state to ensure that all citizens have instant and inexpensive access to justice regardless of their faith affiliations,” he said. “The majority-versus-minority rhetoric has forced Christians and others to believe that they will not get the same treatment as Muslims. Therefore, it’s very important that the government should act to remove this impression.”
Pakistan ranked seventh on Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian, as it was the previous year.