MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

By Shafique Khokhar, AsiaNews – “Faisalabad (AsiaNews) – A new case of gang rape against a Christian minor in Pakistan. The rape occurred in broad daylight, for hours, in a private home where three young Muslims – all under 30 – abused a defenseless girl. A story, Fr. Bonnie Mendes tells AsiaNews that demonstrates ‘the powerlessness of the poor in Pakistan,’ which is reflected ‘in all its evidence in events such as the sexual abuse of Shumaila’ which took place on September 20 last, but has only now been revealed by the press. A story similar to that which occurred Sept. 4 – again in Faisalabad – when a 60 year old Muslim merchant has raped a Christian girl of 10. These episodes confirm the increase of attacks against children in Punjab, as evidenced by a survey carried out by the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC), covering the first five months of 2012, which documents 122 cases of violations in the province: among these, at least 40 sexual, 14 murders, 22 kidnappings, 14 corporal punishment, six forced marriages and 13 deaths due to lack of basic medical care.

Shumaila Masih, a native of Chak 226, Samundari, in the district of Faisalabad (Punjab), is the oldest of four children of a poor Christian family. On the morning of September 20 the girl was headed to the house of a wealthy Muslim, where her mother worked as a maid, to warn of sudden visit by some guests. On the way she met three young Muslims – Iftikhar Hussain 27, Shahid Munir and Muhammad Imran both 30 – who tried at first to persuade her to go with them. At her refusal, the three took her by force and locked her up in the house of Iftikhar Hussain, taking turns raping her for hours. The attack took place at 11 am, in broad daylight, but no one intervened to save Shumaila, despite the desperate cries and pleas for help. At about 5 pm the father Manzoor Masih, along with two cousins, began searching for the girl when she failed to return home. Arriving close to the house where she was being held they heard her cries. At the sight of the men, the three young Muslims fled, leaving Shumaila naked and in pain on the bed.” Read more.

Flashback: Pakistan: Study: 74% of Women From Minority Communities Suffer Sexual Harassment – “Around 74 percent of Pakistani women from minority communities — Christians and Hindus — were sexually harassed, while 43 percent faced religious discrimination at workplaces in 2010 and 2011, a study said. Around 27 percent of minority women faced discrimination in admission to educational institutions and were forced to take Islamic studies for absence of any alternative subject, said National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) executive director Peter Jacob.” Read more.

Flashback: Pakistan: Increasing Number Of Christian Girls Kidnapped By Muslims, Raped, Forced To Convert To Islam – “For the last several years there has been an alarming increase in the kidnapping and false conversion of Christian girls. According to a report from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), last year 1800 Christian and Hindu girls were forcibly converted to Islam. The police hardly registered any cases against the Muslim kidnappers and sometimes even supported them. On some occasions courts even used Islamic laws in favour of the perpetrators. This is a growing problem for Christians and Hindus and CLAAS has raised its concerns with the Pakistani government, but unfortunately it has fallen on deaf ears.” Read more.