A Pakistani family seeks justice almost two months after their 22 year old son was falsely accused of abducting a 19 year old woman, which led in turn to the looting and ransacking of Christians’ houses.

Early on 9 July, Nabeela Bibi of Rahimabad village (78/RB), Sheikhupura, went missing; her father Muhammad Hanif said he suspected she’d eloped with her next-door neighbor, 22-year-old Christian Waheed Masih.

“All the Muslim residents flared up and shouted at us saying they would burn our houses and cut us into pieces,” Waheed’s brother Nasir Masih told World Watch Monitor.

The village has only 10 Christian families: most of them are bonded laborers in brick kilns; others work as janitors in different cities. So most of their men had already left when the incident took place.

The Christians assured everyone that they had no idea where Nabeela had gone, but no one believed them and the situation kept getting more tense all day.

Nasir told WWM: “The mob took my mother and beat her publicly. Someone alerted the police, who rescued her from the mob but then took her into custody to pressure us to produce Waheed at the police station. I eventually brought Waheed back (early on 10 July) and presented him before the Muslims of the area….

In the family’s application to the Punjab Chief Minister and Secretary (and Supreme Court), Nasir stated “the imam announced more than once on the loudspeaker that all Muslims should gather at the center of the village, and ‘Don’t let even a single Christian live in the village!’ Following this, a large number of Muslims gathered and then attacked the houses of the Christians.”

Nasir stated that at least 10 men entered their house, broke open trunks and cupboards and stole gold ornaments (worth roughly US $1,000), household goods (like LCDs and blankets) worth US $2500, and money roughly worth US $300.

The women and children had to run for safety when the looting and ransacking started.

Nasir says that an announcement at about 11pm from the mosque loudspeaker demanded that everyone gather, after which Christians started fleeing the village – except Waheed’s 80-year-old grandmother Traizan Bibi – who later witnessed that the attackers were led by Nabeela’s cousin Muhammad Shahbaz.

“The next morning, again a similar announcement was made from the mosque at which (we have come to know) a local landlord, Muhammad Aslam, reprimanded the imam, asking him if he desired bloodshed,” Nasir added.

It is yet not clear if the imam himself, Muhammad Rizwan Ghafoor (28), made the announcements or someone else. The Christians believe that an unwilling Ghafoor was pressured by Nabeela’s relatives.

The Safdarabad police registered a criminal case [181/18] against Waheed of abduction of Nabeela with the help of his mother and brother Naveed Masih.

On 13 July, Nabeela appeared in the magistrate’s court and requested to record a statement in which she submitted that she had run away to marry Muhammad Nazir Kashif – of her own freewill – on 4 July and had gone to live with him. At this, the police released Waheed and his mother.

But the police have not yet filed charges against theft, ransacking and incitement to hate from the mosque loudspeaker – a crime under the Punjab Loudspeaker Act 2015.

On 23 July Nabeela then filed for dissolution of marriage with Nazir Kashif, claiming his cruelty.

Despite this, on 3 August she then filed an appeal to the Safdarabad police (and in court) that she was in fact abducted by Waheed and his brother Naveed, alleging that she was repeatedly raped by Waheed and his Muslim friend Muhammad Ishtiaq, but had managed to escape on August 1.

“These new charges are being used to pressurize Christians to withdraw their application seeking legal action against misuse of the mosque loudspeaker, and the theft and ransacking of our houses,” Nasir said.

Superintendent of Police Investigation Asad-ur-Rehman told World Watch Monitor that the investigation is on-going, delayed by Eid al-Adha, and their report will be on merit. “Nabeela has changed her statement so we are asking what statement she’s sticking to. Also, there was one part of our investigation missing. This will be concluded in a few days; then we will be better able to explain what exactly happened and who is guilty of creating this fuss”.

How did all this begin?

Nasir explained “Early December, Nabeela and Nazir Kashif met when both of them labored to pull up carrots in the fields. Kashif is from a nearby village, Bohru, and, after the relationship developed, he started coming into our street, and used to stand outside for hours. We complained to Nabeela’s family, after which Nabeela threatened Waheed that he would face consequences for this”.

“A day before she eloped, we met the village chief Muhammad Akbar to explain that Kashif shouldn’t be allowed [to loiter] because it gives a wrong impression to other young girls. Next morning, Waheed went to nearby fields to work. When people expressed their suspicions, I brought Waheed back and presented him. We tried our best but they did not believe us. Because it was getting worse, we slowly left the village, especially after hearing the announcement from the mosque loudspeaker.”

Legal battle goes on under fear of more reprisals

The Christians have lost most of their possessions in the ransack and looting. “The Muslims…were even pushing us to leave the village and to transfer the ownership of our two houses to them,” Nasir said.

Fear still prevails in the village; most of the Christians are unwilling to discuss this incident. Only elderly Christian women and men have returned to their homes while the young women have not yet been brought back for fear of reprisals.

Waheed’s father Rafique Masih (65) and brothers Shafiq (aged 35), Nasir (32), Dildar (28) and Naveed (25) – all bonded* brick kiln workers – have had to borrow about US $2000 from their employers) for their legal case. “We had no choice except to buy justice or we would have been killed,” says Nasir.

*Under the atharhi/seipi system, Pakistani Christians, historically forced into degrading occupations and often uneducated, are forced into bonded labour by advance loans. These loans are used to keep them as bonded labourers because they never earn sufficient sums to pay off this debt.

Source: World watch Monitor

Photo: pixabay