The long trail of Christian children raped or killed in Pakistan

FIDES NEWS 27-08-2012

News Fides Service ASIA/PAKISTAN -  Lahore (Agenzia Fides) - The last case reported to Fides happened a few days ago in Islamabad:  the 14-year-old Christian Waiz Masih was killed by young Muslims, after a "discussion on religion." The boy was savagely beaten and then thrown, unconscious, in a channel. There are stories, besides this one, that emerged on the international news: the case of Sunil Yaqoob Masih, a 14-year-old Catholic orphan from Faisalabad, whose body was found mutilated and without any internal organs, and that of Rimsha Masih, a Christian 11-year-old arrested on false charges of  blasphemy. We are talking about a long trail of Christian children killed for different reasons: hatred towards  minorities, attempts to convert to Islam (over 700 girls a year), organ or human trafficking, enslavement. All crimes have a common denominator: Christian children are considered "goods"  and deprived of their dignity. Fides Agency recalls high-profile cases in recent years: - Amaria Masih, an l8-year-old Catholic, raped and murdered on November 27, 2011 in the village of Samundari (Punjab) by the young Muslim Arif Gujjar, who wanted to marry and convert her. She has been defined the "Maria Goretti of Pakistan" (see Fides 02/12/2011). The family has forgiven the murderer. - Sabir Bashir, a Christian teenager, tortured and killed in October 2011 in the territory of the district of Khanewal District (Punjab), by Muslims because of "land grabbing": the criminals wanted to steal the land which belonged to Christians and this is why they attacked the children. Other children were  injured in the attack. - Anna, a 12-year-old Christian girl, Arif Masih's daughter, scavenger in Shahdra, a small town near Lahore (Punjab): kidnapped and raped repeatedly for eight months by a gang of Islamic militants.  Annihilated and traumatized, was converted and forced to an Islamic marriage (Fides 11/10/2011). - Four Christian children killed in 2011 with their mother near Jehlum (Punjab) because they refused  to leave a village which was predominantly Muslim. - Farah Hatim, the Catholic girl kidnapped, forced to marry and convert to Islam in the city of Rahim Yar Khan, in Punjab. Some non-governmental Organizations in Pakistan and outside the  country officially brought the case to the United Nations (Fides 22/08/2011). - Rebbecca Masih and Saima Masih, two Christian girls kidnapped by a group of Muslims in the  district of Jhung, in Faisalabad (in Punjab), and forced to convert to Islam and forced to marry a  rich local businessman (Fides 27/05/2011). - Shazia Bashir, a 12-year-old Christian girl, who was raped and murdered in January 2010  (Fides 08/02/2010). Chaudhry Naeem, the rich Muslim lawyer, responsible for the crime, was  acquitted. Behind the event there is a sinister turn of sale, trafficking and enslavement of children. - Lubna Masih, 12 years old, raped and murdered by a group of Muslims in Rawalpindi  (Fides 13/10/2010). - Kiran George, a girl from Sheikhupura (Lahore) who died on March 10, 2010 from burns all over her body, after the Muslim Ahmad Raza, a police officer, poured gasoline on her and lit her on fire.  The young woman had been enslaved by a woman, Sama, a dealer of youth to be sold as prostitutes or slaves to wealthy Muslim families (Fides 22/03/2010). (PA) (Agenzia Fides 24/08/2012) Christian Teenager raped and murdered in Punjab Lahore (Agenzia Fides) - A teenage Christian Muqadas Kainat was raped by five men and brutally killed near the town of Sahiwal in Punjab. This is yet another incident of violence, which brings attention to the long trail of abuses suffered by children and young  Christians in Pakistan (see Fides 24/08/2012). The incident happened on August 14, but has been reported to Fides Agency by local sources only now, on the eve of the hearing in Court for another case, that of Rimsha Masih, an 11-year-old Christian arrested for blasphemy. Muqadas Kainat, 15 years old, was the daughter of Rafique Masih, a humble Christian worker, employed in one of the brick kilns, scattered in the plains of Punjab. In the  factory, belonging to the society, "Al-Ghani Bricks Company", in the Sahiwal area,  Rafique Masih works with his wife and seven children, including the youngest, Muqadas.  The family lives nearby. On August 14, the girl left home and no longer came back. Despite the family members  research, she was not found. On August 15, a factory worker said he had received an  anonymous phone call stating that the girl was in a nearby field. The police was alerted,  the research led to the discovery of Muqadas Kainat's body. An autopsy determined  that the girl had been raped many times by at least five men and then strangled. A complaint against persons unknown (First Information Report) was registered, but  "still no culprit has been arrested," says to Fides the Pastor and lawyer Mushtaq Gill,  President of the NGO Christian LEAD ("Legal Evangelical Association Development")  who is providing legal assistance to the family. The fear in the local Christian community,  shocked by what happened, is that crime does not go unpunished.  (PA) (Agenzia Fides 27/08/2012) Pakistanis in Europe are mobilizing for Rimsha Masih Rome (Agenzia Fides) - "Let us save Rimsha Masih": is the campaign launched by  Pakistani Christians in Europe to save the Christian girl falsely accused of blasphemy  and currently in a juvenile prison in Islamabad (see Fides 23/08/2012). Tomorrow the  Court will rule on the request for her release filed by the girl's lawyers, on behalf of the  family and the "All Pakistan Minorities Alliance". From Rome to London, mobilization is increasing: the Pakistani Christians in Italy  have issued an appeal to be sent to the President of Pakistan Ali Zardari  (for adehesions salviamorimshamasih@gmail.com). In a statement sent to Fides, the  "Association of Pakistani Christians in Italy" asks: "Who is the real culprit in the case  of Rimsha? Is it who threw the papers (which Rimsha then burned) knowing that there  were pages of the Koran?". The Association sends " Rimsha Masih, her family and  religious minorities of Pakistan a message of sympathy and solidarity, reiterating the  request for waiver of prosecution and immediate release." It also emphasizes  "full support to all the different organizations, and any Christian denomination, working  for the abolition or revision of the blasphemy law, for the law, for the defense and  security of religious minorities." "All those who believe in freedom of worship and respect for religious beliefs of others  cannot remain indifferent in the face of this violence," says to Fides Adan Farhaj,  President of the "All Pakistan Christian League" in Italy, who organized a public  conference yesterday in Porto Sant'Elpidio to ask for Rimsha's release and to show  solidarity with all those who suffer violence because of their faith. In London, the "British Pakistani Christian Association" held in recent days, a protest in  front of the Prime Minister's Office in Downing Street and launched an online petition  (at http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/ freerimshamasih) asking the British  Government, the European Union, the United Nations, to put pressure for the girl's  release. The petition will be sent to the "Human Rights Commission of Pakistan," a  Pakistani government body. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 27/08/2012)