Pictured is Parveen Bibi, the murdered man's sister, holding the dead couple's infant - one of four children orphaned in the killing in Punjab, Pakistan.
The killings took place on Tuesday, November 3, about 60 kilometers from Lahore, the capital of Punjab in central Pakistan - in the village of Kot Radha Kishan in Chak 59. The couple originally came from the historic Christian village of Clarkabad, just 4 kilometers from Chak 59. There have been several violent clashes between the Christians from Clarkabad and Muslims from the surrounding villages in recent times.
The couple could have saved their lives if they had fled after the woman was accused of burning pages of the Quran, but the owner of the brick factory refused to let them leave without repaying their debt.
This is a traditional method still used to enslave workers in India and Pakistan, although it is officially banned in Pakistan. The method is described by the UN as a form of 'modern slavery'.
Two days before the killing, Shahzad Masih (26) and his wife, who was five months pregnant, Shama Bibi (24), were accused of burning pages from the Quran. The couple already had four children who are now orphans. Parveen Bibi, Masih's elder brother's wife, spoke to World Watch Monitor on the day of the killings.
She told us that her father, Nazar Masih, "used to perform black magic" using amulets and some documents that she believes may have included verses from the Quran.
"On Sundays, Shama burned them all and threw the ashes on the dung heap outside where they lived. Shama didn't do this to denigrate Islam in any way, because she was illiterate and had no idea what was in the amulets," she says. "Some people recognized the half-burnt pages in the ashes and cried out that Shama had burned the Quran."
Shahzad Masih and his five brothers have worked for many years at the brick factory owned by Yousuf Gujjar. Parveen says Shahzad and his brothers went to Gujjar to solve the problem after the atmosphere became tense in the camp. "Gujjar assured us that nothing would happen, while asking his accountant not to let Shahzad and Shama flee the village without repaying their debts," money that they pay off against their employment and salary.
On Monday night, some Muslim neighbors had informed the police about the alleged desecration of the Quran and warned of a possible attack on the Christian couple, Parveen said. "That night, Shahzad and Shama slept at my place, so if they were arrested, at least we would know." Around 6 a.m. when Shahzad and Shama went home to get ready for work, angry people started pouring into the neighborhood. Upon seeing the danger, all the Christians fled except Shama's sister, Yasmeen (married to Shahzad's brother, Fiaz Masih).
Yasmeen says they were making breakfast when some people knocked on the door and asked for Shama. "They entered the house and one of the men dragged Shama out. Shama had their youngest daughter, Poonam, in her arms. The man grabbed Poonam and threw her on the floor.... So a guard from the brick factory, Muhammad Akram, rescued Shama and took her to the factory office (just a few meters from their house) and locked her in there to protect her from the attackers. Shama was crying and screaming for help. The guard picked up her husband and asked him to go to Shama to comfort her and he assured them that they would be let out as soon as the crowd was gone"
"At that time there weren't that many people, but we could hear it being announced on the mosque loudspeakers in the surrounding villages - that a Christian woman had desecrated the Quran." Yasmeen says people from five surrounding villages - Chak 60, Rosey, Pailan, Nawan Pindi and Hatnian - were gathered by residents of Chak 59 and workers from the brick factory.
"Soon trucks filled with thousands of men armed with clubs, picks and axes began to pour in. The guard Akram had locked the front door of the office from the outside, but the angry protesters broke in anyway. However, they failed to break the inner iron door of the office and Shama and Shahnaz must have locked it from the inside."
The angry protesters then climbed onto the roof and broke through it "as if it was made of wood, straw and mud," Yasmeen said. She said these men opened the door from the inside and brought the couple outside, where the high-strung crowd was ready to attack. "They beat them with clubs to the head and with axes before tying them both to a tractor and dragging them out onto a road that was being constructed and was covered in stone chips. I think they were unconscious but still breathing, but the crowd still wouldn't leave them alone. They took some gasoline from a tractor and poured it over them and threw them into the brick oven. That's when I lost hope and fled with my children."
Another relative, Parvaiz Shehzad, who also lives in Clarkabad, said the Muslims from neighboring villages "were very jealous of the Christians". The village is named after Robert Clark (1825-1900), the first Anglican missionary in Pakistan. Parvaiz Shehzad said it was the first village in the district to get electricity, a bank, a post office and a high school. "Most of the educated people from the area have gone to school in Clarkabad. The dispute between the Christian and Muslim villagers has been a recurring problem in recent years."
Since Shehzad and Shama were from Clarkabad, he believes envy may have played a role.
Shama's sister Yasmeen said a police car was present throughout the violent attack, but because they were so few, the police did not intervene. "Some men asked them to shoot into the air to quell the crowd because they had no firearms to retaliate. Shama and her husband might have survived if they had intervened in time."
Police arrived at the scene in large numbers after the crowd killed the couple. A local news media reports that 42 people have been arrested in connection with the case. Police opened a case and registered a report (no. 475/14) at the Kot Radha Kishan police station. It states that 500-600 men tortured the Christian couple. 60 men are mentioned by name and it states that "The incident took place after the above mentioned persons gathered a crowd and incited them with false announcements from mosque loudspeakers that the Quran had been dishonored".
The bodies of the couple were hastily buried at midnight to prevent Christian leaders from officiating the funeral, as had been planned. Shama's father, Mukhtar Masih, with the help of Christian organization The Voice Society, filed a petition against the government's decision to be the plaintiff.
He told World Watch Monitor that he has worked for years as a leader of debt slaves and that he "knows the tactics the government uses to oppress us. Last night when I left the village, it had been decided that the funeral would be held the next day. But instead it was hastily done at midnight, as if our children were twenty. The Christian community in Pakistan has already seen the government's lack of action in the case of Joseph Colony (in Lahore), where the state is also a plaintiff."
"My daughter Yasmeen was an eyewitness to everything that happened, but she is not in the police report, so how do I know that the state is going to do justice?" he complained.
The news went viral and was soon on all Pakistani TV channels, after which the Chief Minister of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif, immediately formed a three-member committee headed by the Minister for Minority Affairs and Human Rights, Javed Iqbal. Iqbal said that the committee would visit the site soon and prepare a report for the chief minister. Parliamentarian Mary Gill, from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, told World Watch Monitor that the chief minister had already set up a police task force to deal with the vigilante problem.
"The landmark ruling that came from the Supreme Court in June this year gives us a tool to deal with the threat of this evil. We hope to present a law soon that can eliminate this social evil that has taken root in our society in recent years."
Killings of people on loose charges, especially those accused of blasphemy, are becoming increasingly common in Pakistan.
In 2009, over 100 houses belonging to Christians were looted and set on fire in the town of Gojra.
In 2013, thousands of Muslim fundamentalists attacked Joseph Colony, a Christian neighborhood in central Lahore.
According to the Center for Research and Security Studies, there have been more than 52 cases of extrajudicial killings for blasphemy in two decades in Pakistan.
Source: World Watch Monitor
