Posted on 10/02/2005 10:50:32 AM PDT by Qaz_W
Family seeks justice despite threats from Muslim neighbors and victims attackers.
September 27 (Compass) A Pakistani woman has charged three men with raping her earlier this month and threatening to kill her if she did not convert from Christianity to Islam.
Ribqa Masih, 22, testified at last Thursdays court hearing that Ghulam Abbas and Mohammad Kashif drugged and kidnapped her on September 2.
Masih had made the 10-mile trip from her home town of Chak to the city of Faisal Abad that morning with her Muslim friend Humaira Hussain. Hussain said she wanted help in gaining entrance to a Dominican boarding house in Faisal Abad, where Masih had previously stayed while receiving her teachers training.
A Trap
Unbeknownst to Masih, she said, Hussain had arranged to meet Abbas and Kashif at the bus stop in Faisal Abad, where the two men offered Masih a drink of water that made her lose consciousness.
She said the two men took her to a house in the city of Lahore, approximately 100 kilometers (62 miles) away, and raped her repeatedly throughout the night. They threatened to shoot her and to kill the rest of her family, she said, if she did not repeat the Islamic creed, an act which, if done in the presence of two Muslims, is considered a valid form of conversion to Islam.
Masih refused to convert, saying that she would rather die than change her religion. The next morning her kidnappers handed her over to another Muslim man, whom they said would return her home.
The Catholic womans new captor, however, repeatedly raped her over the next three days and threatened to kill her if she told anyone, Masih testified. On September 6, the man finally returned Masih to Faisal Abad and left her at a public bus stop. Unable to walk due to vaginal injury, Masih hired a rickshaw to take her to her uncles house, where she telephoned her parents.
Attacker Claims Charges Are Politically Motivated
Police have apprehended only one of Masihs attackers, Abbas, who denied accusations of rape at Thursdays hearing. He called the charges election enmity, claiming that the case was politically motivated.
In the last election, he and the Masih family voted for the same candidate, Masihs lawyer, Khalil Tahir, objected. Neither family has anything to do with politics.
For her part, Masih told Judge Adeela Altaf, No woman would put her honor at stake for an election.
In a country where honor is a matter of life and death, Masihs words highlighted the gravity of her situation.
Physical, Emotional, Social Trauma
Masihs priest, Father Paschal Paulus, said that when he first saw her after the alleged kidnapping, she was sitting, and I asked her to get up, but she was just crying, and her father told me that she still had difficulty walking.
This girl used to always sing and do the readings at daily mass. But the whole time I was there, she was just in fear, tears were coming from her eyes and she was very upset. She still has difficulty walking.
Tahir, who is also representing Sonia Naz against members of the Pakistani police in a rape case that has received national media attention, said three or four instances of women being raped appear in local newspapers every day. Many girls never report [rape] to the police because they feel they will not get justice, Tahir said. On the other hand, this is a matter of prestige and family honor in Pakistan. Nobody wants to marry these girls, even though they are innocent.
The consequences of rape are often even more serious than social stigmatization. During the first four months of this year, 57 women were reported killed on the pretext of honor in Pakistan, according to the Society for Human Rights and Prisoners Aid (SHARP) in a May article in Lahores Daily Times.
There are many times where people are raped but they dont raise their voice, Fr. Paulus told Compass from the Waris Pura Catholic Church in Faisal Abad. Money can buy the justice. So if you are poor, you know that anything possible can be done to you. People will just use you. Where there is no justice, people are scared of raising their voices.
Family Pays Price for Courage
The priest said that the Masih family was unusual in their willingness to take a stand on their daughters rape. Despite his vulnerability as a poor Christian living in a Muslim village, Ribqas father, Rafique Masih, sought out Fr. Paulus and asked for his help in taking legal action.
This is a very courageous family, the priest said. But in this case, if you are really becoming courageous, then you really have to carry your cross. That cross has come in the form of threats from Muslim neighbors. The Masih family has been told that if they do not retract the court case, they will have one opened against them.
Ribqa Masihs six younger siblings have all withdrawn from school, where they faced constant taunting from classmates who called them prostitutes. The Masih family has also received threatening phone calls from two of the alleged kidnappers, who remain at large. Fr. Paulus and the family suspect that the polices failure to arrest these men signifies a deliberate attempt to protect them.
Tahir, who agreed to represent Masih pro bono, has appealed for the proceedings to be moved to an Anti-terrorism Act court on the basis that the incident has created a sense of fear and insecurity in the minds of the family. The lawyer has taken statements from several of Masihs neighbors, who witnessed to the fact that the family is living under immense pressure.
Will President General Musharraf instead of being more concerned about the rape statistics of the United States, Canada, France and Britain get of his backside and do something about rape in his own country:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/12/AR2005091201724.html
This is an entirely different story from this other one today, which is also a news item out of Pakistan of a Christian child being gang raped and sought to be converted to Islam:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/1495154/posts
What is she - anti-diversity?
And I thought being annoyed with Jehovah Wintess coming to the door was a poor way to prosletize!
Ah, yes. The Religion of Peace!
Any person who can take this kind of torture and hold fast to their faith is a saint; clear and simple. This is what the martyers of the Church were and are made of. This unspeakable evil thrust upon so many innocent victims will only be equaled by the power of God in eternity. But God WILL hand down justice and eternal rewards on the deserving.
That's religion of "piece".
I am really starting to think that these people are under the spell of the devil himself. How can one lose their humanity otherwise? I mean would any of us Christians stand by and let this kind of thing happen to a muslim woman? No, we wouldn't. Because we know what justice is. They are so far removed from God and God's truth, I just don't think any can be saved. Only God Himself can do this, I know. I am not thinking as God would think. Prayers are answered and I think we must not be doing enough of it.
Yeah, no wonder it's so popular with its adherents.
Prayers up for this woman. 'Sort of hope her father hires a hit man for justice.
Tragic story.
Remind me again of why our sons and daughters are dying to bring these backward animals into the 21st century.....
Starting? Haven't you learned yet that Satan's most successful persona on Earth is that of "Allah"?
No flames here (#12).
I really try to give people the benefit of the doubt, especially when I used to consider a few muslims my friends over 20 years ago. In my youth down in Texas I knew a handful of muslim men through the soccer association in Fort Worth. Our women's team had some connections with a few of men on another team (married, boyfriends, but not with the muslims), so we hung out with them socially and watched and pulled for them with their games, and they watched ours and pulled for us too. They were all from Libya save a few, they joked about Quaddafi, and they were very normal by my standards. Didn't seem to take their religion all that seriously, except the one from Saudi Arabia. I didn't like him at all--he just kinda stared at me with a real sour look on his face. The others were really nice and one was a real friend and I grieved when he died. (He moved to South Dakota to go to college and hit a cow in the road with his car, I just couldn't believe it) He truly cared about me, never tried anything untoward, and even tried to teach me how to kick the ball right. (The kick is the trick in this game you know, LOL) I also lived next door in my apartment to a guy on the nen's team named Radwan, and he invited me over a few times to eat with him and his friends, and once during their Ramadan thingy. They were all extremely polite to me. They spread newspaper all over the floor, put the big community soup bowl in the middle and we all sat down to eat. They didn't pray over the food if I remember right. But they laughed histerically when I dipped my pita like bread into the soup and started to whine. It was so hot I almost cried. But Radwan yelled at the guy closest to the kitchen to run and get me some tea out of the refrigerator, which he did.
My point is I guess its hard for me to think they are all like these animals that are doing things like what happened to that poor girl. I just pray that I don't get sucked into a false hate, because sometimes I think thats whats happening to me. I don't want to make blanket generalizations about all in the group, I have to watch that, it is really easy to do, and the devil is laughing at us Christians who are doing this, for it isn't God's will.
Did you know that they really do think that Mary really was a virgin when Jesus was born? I am more than stunned by this. The muslim man in my office told me this. I asked him well now, how did that happen? He said that God blew on Mary (they call her Miriam)and she conceived. I am sitting there absolutely speechless, I couldn't hardly compose myself. But no, absolutely not, NO WAY is Jesus the begotten son of God. I asked him well who IS Jesus father then? He said that Jesus had NO father. You see, I think they may be more easily converted than you think. I also think that the ones who hold them captive, yes captive in this religion know that too. Thats why they have the death penalty for the "apostate" I really in my heart of hearts believe that can be won over, if they have the freedom to do it without fearing for their lives and that of their families.
One really horrible regret I have is the friend who died. On one day, when we were talking about our different beliefs (I am Catholic) he said in his broken English (and tearing up) that some girl had told him that "if you don't accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you will go to the hell". Knowing that our Church doesn't have this doctrine anymore (something about a "special relationship with the church" or some such)I just comforted him and told him it wasn't true. While I like to believe my friend Rajab is in heaven, I have a hard time forgiving myself for not taking the opportunity to at least try to lead him to Christ. Not through fear, but love. Why oh why oh why didn't I do that? Because I was young? Stupid? Both? I just don't know. But we all need to calm down and think, what should we do? Hate them? Love them? Its getting hard and times have changed, thats for sure. But I encourage everyone here to stay grounded in your faith. We can't lose that or we end up with nothing
"ISLAM" MUST BE HELD to AT LEAST the SAME STANDARDS as CHRISTIANITY!!
If "ISLAM" is to be "Exempt from" the Criteria other beliefs are "Held To,' Then "Islam" should be required to Justify it's "Special Status!"
Gang-Raping Christian Women Doesn't Further the "Islamic Cause!!"
The Problem Is, all of us "In the West" see from "Islam" is Suicide Bombers, Gang-Rapes of Christian Women, & the Murder of Innocents.
When will we see the "Good Side" of Islam??
Until Then, Most of us would "just as soon" 'Nuke MECCA, MEDINA, QOM, TEHRAN, DAMSCUS, etc.
So Far, you have given us NO REASON why you should continue to exist!!
REMEMBER--you SANCTION the "GANG-RAPE of Christian WOMEN" to "CONVERT THEM!!"
Doc
I said, "no flames" for wequalswinner and vwrc0915 referring to Islam as "satanic"..
We DO NOT have the "Luxury of" assuming that "Radical Islam" is Confined to the "Middle East;" These "Religious Psychopaths" plan to Rape & Convert Christians "WORLD_WIDE!!"
WHAT a TRAGEDY!!
Doc
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