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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n