On May 25, Nazeer Gill was attacked by an angry mob who accused him of burning pages of the Quran. They set fire to a shoe factory belonging to the Christian family and vandalized his house, setting it on fire after destroying walls and doors. They got Nazeer Gill outside where they began torturing him with bricks, stones and sticks as he lay bleeding on the ground.
Sultan Gill, son of Nazeer Gill, talks about the situation
When the crowd attacked, there were 11 family members inside the house in Mujahid Colony, including his father, mother, wife, three children and five children of his elder brother, Sultan Gill told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. He says they could hear shouting outside their front gate from as early as six in the morning. He says, "When I went out to inquire, I saw a group of 20-30 Muslims claiming that my father had burnt pages of the Quran. I tried to calm them down and also asked for forgiveness on my father's behalf if he had actually done something wrong, but they refused to listen."
He continues, "Meanwhile, the crowd had grown to several hundred and as soon as the police got my family outside, some people took my father from the policemen and started torturing him. I tried to save him, but the police told me that the life of the whole family was in serious danger and that it was important to get us to safety. They assured me that they would rescue my father from the crowd and I agreed to go, but they failed to save him in time." For security reasons, Sultan Gill and his family were moved by police and security officials to a government safehouse, where they remain. Sultan Gill is also a member of the Presbyterian Church.
Sultan Gill says, "We have been told that we cannot return to our house for a few days as it is not safe yet, but the whole incident has been so traumatizing for all of us that I don't think we will ever be able to resume our normal lives there." The family is very affected by the situation and is deeply shocked and scared. The family's valuables and belongings were looted and the crowd burned down some of the rooms in the house and destroyed the infrastructure.
He doubts the family will be able to resume their business, despite assurances from the police and authorities. Sultan Gill ran the business with his father, Nazeer Gill. He says, "Our business was flourishing, which made some local Muslims jealous of our success. There have been several attempts to implicate us in false cases, which we have handled successfully, but this time they have misused religion to persecute us."
Read about the attack on Nazeer Gill here: Elderly Christian in critical condition after false blasphemy accusation
Police have made more than 100 arrests of suspects and meanwhile, police have also registered a blasphemy case against Nazeer Gill. A nephew has denied the allegations, Dawn.com reports.
Nazeer Gill's injuries led to his death
On May 25, Nazeer Gill was moved to a military hospital where his condition was stabilized. The case has been circulating on social media with rumors that both Nazeer Gill and Sultan Gill had died. However, a nephew explained to Dawn.com that Nazeer Gill was "fine and alive" and had been moved to another hospital for treatment.
Sultan Gill says of the situation, "Doctors performed two surgeries to save his life, but despite removing bone fragments from his brain, his condition was still precarious and he could not survive." Nazeer Gill suffered multiple skull fractures and critical blood clots in his brain. Police tried to intervene, but the crowd was too large. The ambulance that Nazeer Gill was being transported in was also damaged, complicating rescue efforts, according to Christian Daily International-Morning Star News.
On June 3, at 12:30 am, Nazeer Gill passed away in a hospital in Rawalpindi. He was then moved back to Sargodha so that he could be buried.
Grief in Pakistan
The attack has sparked nationwide and international condemnation and protests against the persecution of Christians and other minorities accused of blasphemy.
The President of the Church of Pakistan, Bishop Azad Marshall, posted a message of mourning on X, which read in part: "Today, every Pakistani should be grieving, not just for the atrocities in a foreign land, but right here. Once again, hatred has brought us to a place where we must ask questions. The question is not 'When will it stop?' because beyond the destruction of homes and lives, beyond the brutal killing of a hardworking man, beyond the destruction of a community and the grief of a family, we have already come too far!"
Catherine Sapna, CEO of advocacy group Christian's True Spirit, said she could feel the fear and trauma of the Gill family when she met them on Monday, June 3. "The family had been brought there for some time to attend the funeral of their eldest. During my conversation with the Gill grandchildren, I could sense that the bloody and violent incident had left a deep impression on them. I also met the victim's widow; she is in her 70s, but the grief is so great that she was not able to say anything. Seeing their condition, I don't think it's safe for them to continue living there."
Samuel, Secretary General of the Danish European Mission, says: "Nazeer Masih Gil's death unfortunately joins the ranks of many Pakistanis who have suffered a completely unjust and senseless death. From 1947 to February 2021, at least 89 people have been killed by civil society extremists, according to the Pakistan Center for Research and Security Studies. Not because they were convicted of blasphemy in a court of law, but simply because Islamic extremists can succeed in inciting crowds to commit vigilante violence and attack people who are merely accused of blasphemy or fighting to change blasphemy laws. For example, a Christian politician, Shehbaz Bhatti, a member of the lower house of Pakistan's parliament, was killed in 2013 simply because he wanted to reform blasphemy laws."
Intercessory prayer
Pray for Nazeer Gill's family in their grief. Pray that God will give them comfort and that the local Christians will find hope in Him so they will fear no more.
Support Pakistan: Schooling for poor Christian children
The Danish European Mission has a school project in northwestern Pakistan. In this area, the Pakistani Taliban and other Islamic extremist groups are stronger than in other parts of the country. It costs DKK 1,040 to ensure that a child from a poor and persecuted Christian family can attend school. In this way, the most vulnerable Christian families can help themselves and lift themselves out of extreme poverty.
