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March 5, 2005

Note: The following text is an exact quote:
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Jeremy Reynalds
P O Box 27693
Alb., NM 87125-7693
Tel: (505) 400-7145

PAKISTANI CHRISTIAN WOMEN SUFFERS SEVERE BEATING FROM MUSLIM HUSBAND; HER FAMILY IS IN HIDING

    Some of her bones were broken and her nose, breasts and genitals were bitten because she refused to be converted to the religion of her husband, a Moslem.

    Honey's neighbors moved her to a hospital, bleeding and unconscious, the Pakistan Christian Post (www.pakistanchristianpost.com/newsdetails.php?newsid=567) reported. Her brothers received threats that all the members of the family would be killed and her younger sisters would be abducted and raped if the matter was reported to the police.

    Dr. Fazia, the medical examiner of the hospital told the Feb. 21 edition of Daily Naya Akhbar that she had never encountered such extreme violence to a woman.

    Honey, a Christian from Karachi, Pakistan, ran away from home and married Faisal Raees, the man of her dreams and a Muslim, against her parents' wishes. But the dream began to evaporate when Raees started exerting pressure on Honey to become a Muslim. The pressure peaked on Feb. 20 when Honey's elder brother Richard came to see her.

    When Richard tried to stop Raees hurting his sister, the Christian Post reported, Raees hit him and then put a gun to his head, threatening to kill him if he moved. He then bound him with a rope.

    After that he took an iron rod and began to beat Honey, removing her clothes in front of her brother. Using a rod, he broke some of her bones and teeth causing her to lose consciousness. When Honey opened her eyes, she found herself in a hospital.

    The Christian Post reported that her neighbors told the Daily Naya Akhbar although they heard the heart-rending cries of Honey they were afraid to intervene. When they finally entered the house, the Christian Post reported, they observed Raees hitting Honey with the iron rod while she lay on the floor naked covered with blood. When Raees saw his neighbors, he ran away.

    Honey's neighbors covered her with a sheets and got her to a local hospital, the Christian Post reported. But that did not stop her husband from trying to enter the ward where Honey was staying.

    The Christian Post reported that Honey's doctor said her condition is still very serious and if she does survive she may be unable to conceive due to damage to her private parts.

    Meanwhile, Christian Post reported, Honey's entire family is hiding in a small house belonging to relatives while her husband remains free.

    Churches and other Christians, the Christian Post reported, are afraid of helping them for fear of being targets. Police have yet to put together a case against Raees. Masood, an uncle of Honey, has reportedly telephoned major daily newspapers in Pakistan to cover the tragedy, but the Christian Post reported "they did not have time to listen to him."

    Authorities are also indifferent to the case, the Christian Post reported. Masood "has been constantly on the phone to prevent additional tragedies to the family. He has not been able to find any office, active or inactive, of human rights in Karachi. He has telephoned everywhere he could to try to find a ray of hope. So far, he is out of luck in spite of the time and money he has spent on phone calls to several places in Pakistan and Canada."

    Masood's major concern is for the safety of Honey's parents, brothers and sisters of Honey. They have been repeatedly threatened by Raees, the Christian Post reported. While Masood wants to get them to a safer place, as of yet, that shows no sign of happening.

    Masood, who works with a penitentiary and also runs an Indo/Pakistan restaurant, is finding that the pressure is affecting his work. That's because the burning questions on his mind is how he can help Honey and her family.

    Masood and his wife June are active members of the Anglican Church. Both are also founding members of an organization of South Asian Christians.

    Tragically, there are many more cases of Christian persecution in Pakistan. World Net Daily (www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42758)   recently reported about a man getting his arm hacked off and a family being kidnaped, assaulted and tortured.

    A Muslim customer allegedly assaulted a Christian shopkeeper in the small village of Talwandi, Punjab province, according to an Asia News recounted by World Net Daily. After the shopkeeper, Shahbaz Masih, refused to rent a TV to Ahmed Ali, a butcher, Ali reportedly insulted Masih for being a Christian and left the store. WND reported he later returned with a butcher's ax and allegedly hacked off Mashi's left arm near the elbow.

As he left, Ali allegedly threatened the victim and his widowed mother with   even more "dire consequences" for the supposed insult he had endured.

     According to WND, Asia News reported Masih, 22, spent four days in the hospital and then closed his shop and fled the village with his mother.

    According to the report, a group of Christian leaders from the area filed a complaint with the police and Ali was arrested. Local police reportedly are under heavy pressure to whitewash the case and free Ali.

    In another incident, Hanifan Bibi, 58, who worked as a domestic servant for a Muslim family, and three male relatives were kidnaped and abused for two days.

    According to the Barnabas Fund, which monitors persecution of Christians (www.barnabasfund.org/News/Archive/Pakistan/Pakistan-20050128.htm) Bibi and three male relatives were abducted by her Muslim employer on Jan. 10. After the abuse family members were taken to a police station and accused of theft.

     Bibi 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. Bibi was stripped, forced to drink wine, photographed, videoed and severely beaten. Masih and Pervaiz were also beaten. After this ordeal the family were taken to a police station and accused of stealing money and jewelry from Bibi's employer.

    The family believe that their abduction was in retaliation for Bibi's refusal to provide the men of her employer's family with Christian women for sex, the Barnabas Fund reported.

    Bibi and her son were hospitalized due to the injuries from their beatings. The case has been taken up the Center for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement.

    The Barnabas Fund reports that 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.

    In other news about Christians in Pakistan, last year the British based Release International, which serves persecuted Christians in nations around the world, issued a news release (www.releaseinternational.org/current_news/99.asp) asking Christians to set up a "Persecution Zone" in their churches to remember Christians in Pakistan who are being persecuted for their faith.

    According to the news release, Release International launched the "Remember Persecuted Christians" campaign in response to calls from church leaders in Pakistan.

    The campaign was designed to initiate both prayer and pressure on Pakistan, the news release stated, to abolish the country's blasphemy laws which have been used against Christians and other minorities.

    Christians have been falsely accused of blasphemy, the news release from Release International noted, as a way of settling scores and getting revenge. The "crime" carries the death penalty. Even if the accused are acquitted, Release International stated, Christians y risk being gunned down on the streets by vigilantes convinced they are carrying out Allah's work.

    Additional information about Pakistan's blasphemy laws is available at www.releaseinternational.org/take_action/documents/75.pdf