Saleem Masih, age 22, was bathing in a tube-well when he was allegedly tortured by local landowners in bagiana village, Family claims local police officials ‘acted as spectators’ as they pleaded assailants to let them take Saleem to hospital.
Punjab, Pakistan: A
Christian laborer was brutally tortured by local landowners in District Kasur
three days ago on accusations that he had ‘polluted’ their tube-well water by
bathing in it died due to his severe injuries on Friday.
Saleem Masih, 22, was brought to the General Hospital in a critical
condition on Thursday, “On Feb 25,
Working as laborer Saleem had finished unloading chaff in fields in Bagiana
village and was rinsing himself off in the tube-well water when a group of men,
including Sher Dogar, Iqbal, Altaf, Jabbar and Haji Muhammad were informed that a Christian is bathing in their tube
well. They rushed over, pulled him out of the water and began beating him,”
Saleem’s father Ghafoor Masih said.
“They cursed and abused Saleem for ‘polluting’ the water,
calling him a ‘filthy Christian,’” Masih claimed, adding that the assailants
then dragged the youth to their cattle farm, where they chained his hands and
feet and continued to torture him with sticks and rods. “They also rolled a
thick iron rod over Saleem’s entire body, causing multiple fractures and
internal injuries.”
Ghafoor said that the family was informed about the incident
by police officials four hours after his son was taken hostage and tortured.
“When we reached the cattle farm, we found Saleem lying
unconscious on the ground, his face and body bloodied,” he said. He alleged
that according to Dogar and the other men, Saleem had “committed a crime by
dirtying” their well water and that his punishment was “justified”.
Masih said that after much pleading, the family was allowed
to take Saleem to the hospital while the police acted like spectators.
The police’s attitude is mostly biased when they deal with
matters relating to blasphemy, forced conversions and marriages of girls
belonging to minority faiths especially Christians, and even in minor disputes.
Punjab, Pakistan: A
Christian laborer was brutally tortured by local landowners in District Kasur
three days ago on accusations that he had ‘polluted’ their tube-well water by
bathing in it died due to his severe injuries on Friday.
Saleem Masih, 22, was brought to the General Hospital in a critical
condition on Thursday, “On Feb 25,
Working as laborer Saleem had finished unloading chaff in fields in Bagiana
village and was rinsing himself off in the tube-well water when a group of men,
including Sher Dogar, Iqbal, Altaf, Jabbar and Haji Muhammad were informed that a Christian is bathing in their tube
well. They rushed over, pulled him out of the water and began beating him,”
Saleem’s father Ghafoor Masih said.
“They cursed and abused Saleem for ‘polluting’ the water,
calling him a ‘filthy Christian,’” Masih claimed, adding that the assailants
then dragged the youth to their cattle farm, where they chained his hands and
feet and continued to torture him with sticks and rods. “They also rolled a
thick iron rod over Saleem’s entire body, causing multiple fractures and
internal injuries.”
Ghafoor said that the family was informed about the incident
by police officials four hours after his son was taken hostage and tortured.
“When we reached the cattle farm, we found Saleem lying
unconscious on the ground, his face and body bloodied,” he said. He alleged
that according to Dogar and the other men, Saleem had “committed a crime by
dirtying” their well water and that his punishment was “justified”.
Masih said that after much pleading, the family was allowed
to take Saleem to the hospital while the police acted like spectators.
The police’s attitude is mostly biased when they deal with
matters relating to blasphemy, forced conversions and marriages of girls
belonging to minority faiths especially Christians, and even in minor disputes.
Video: Father Demands Justice
