Persecution of Christians in Pakistan: in this case, the injustice done to the grieving family of Saim Masih was perpetuated by police officers who abused the victim’s brother, Saqar, when he reported the sexual assault.
This is an insight into the daily life of the entire Christian population of Pakistan, including the nation’s small and courageous Orthodox Christian community. Christians live with the fear that the harassment and persecution they experience on an all too frequent basis will be ignored or even abetted by the officials who should be protecting them. The sexual assault of Saim Masih was made all the worse by the subsequent behavior of the police who should have been protecting him and his family.
Please pray that the Christian community in Pakistan will be able to endure this martyrdom and experience a resurrection, and that relief will come to this courageous and long-suffering Christian community.
For previous ChristianPersecution.com coverage of the persecution of Christians in Pakistan, see here.
“Christian Family in Pakistan Under Threat for Reporting Sexual Assault,” International Christian Concern, June 19, 2020:
06/19/2020 Pakistan (International Christian Concern) – According to local reports, a Christian teen in Pakistan was sexually assaulted by his Muslim employer in early June. The incident took place in Sangla Hill, located in the Faisalabad district of Pakistan’s Punjab province. The assault surfaced on June 1 when the victim’s brother, Saqar, reported the assault to local police.
According to Dr. Riaz Aasi, Chairman of the Alpha Human Rights Care Association, Qaiser Masih, the victim’s father, borrowed around 350,000 rupees ($2,127.66 USD) from Muhammad Tauseef around a year ago. Because of this debt, Qaiser’s 13-year-old son, Saim, was required to work on Tauseef’s agricultural land in exchange for a very small salary.
“After a year, Saim’s father demanded an increase in Saim’s salary and other benefits to settle the accounts,” Dr. Aasi told International Christian Concern (ICC). “Tauseef got irritated and rejected the demand.”
According to Dr. Aasi, Tauseef went on to beat Qaiser and called him a ‘choora’, a derogatory term used to denote Pakistani Christians as untouchable. Tauseef then took out his anger on Saim. According to Saqar, Tauseef began beating and sexually assaulting his 13-year-old brother.
“Saim informed his brother about Tauseef’s abuse and Saqar approached the local police and submitted an application against the brutal behavior of Tauseef,” Dr. Aasi told ICC. “However, police refused the application and abused Saqar. Saqar was then pressurized to withdraw the application, but her refused.”
According to Dr. Aasi, Saqar was abducted on June 5 and was missing for about 30 hours. When he was found, his body was covered with multiple injuries. Qaisar was also threatened with ‘dire consequences’ if he continues to pursue the accusation against Tauseef by masked men….
