PAKISTAN

28 January 2005

CHRISTIAN FAMILY ABDUCTED, HUMILIATED AND BEATEN IN REVENGE FOR WIFE'S INTEGRITY

Mrs Hanifan Bibi and three male relatives were abducted by her Muslim employer on 10th January, abused and mistreated for two days. Finally the family were taken to a police station and accused of theft.

Hanifan Bibi, aged around 58, worked as a domestic servant for a Muslim family. She and her husband Kala Masih, son Pervaiz and nephew Kashif were at home in Lahore when her employer's husband and some other men broke down the door and forced the Christian family into a car. They were driven to an unknown destination and kept there for two days, hungry and thirsty. Kashif was suspended upside down naked and beaten with a hot metal pipe. Mrs Hanifan was stripped, forced to drink wine, photographed, videoed and severely beaten. Kala and Pervaiz were also beaten. After this ordeal the family were taken to a police station and accused of stealing money and jewellery from Mrs Hanifan's employer.

The family believe that their abduction was in retaliation for Mrs Hanifan's refusal to provide the men of her employer's family with Christian women for sex.

Mrs Hanifan and her son were hospitalised because of the injuries sustained from their beatings [1]. The case has been taken up the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement.

BACKGROUND

Many Pakistani Christian women are illiterate and earn their living as ill-paid domestic servants, often for affluent Muslim families. They are very vulnerable to abuse and rarely dare to complain, fearing the influence of their employer in the local community. Cases brought by poor Christians are often not treated seriously by the Pakistani police.

PRAYER ITEMS

* Pray for Mrs Hanifan Bibi, her husband, son and nephew that they may be healed physically and emotionally from their ordeal.

* Pray for those who are seeking justice for them, that their pleas will be heard. Pray also that the Pakistani authorities will act to protect vulnerable Christian women from such abuse. Hanifan Bibi is only one of many poor, illiterate Christian women who have suffered at the hands of affluent Muslim employers.

LINKS

[1] - http://www.barnabasfund.org/news/archive/pakistan/pakistan-20050128.htm

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