{"id":607316,"date":"2023-02-12T17:50:16","date_gmt":"2023-02-12T23:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/12\/christian-farm-laborer-beaten-to-death-in-pakistan\/"},"modified":"2023-02-12T17:50:16","modified_gmt":"2023-02-12T23:50:16","slug":"christian-farm-laborer-beaten-to-death-in-pakistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/12\/christian-farm-laborer-beaten-to-death-in-pakistan\/","title":{"rendered":"Christian Farm Laborer Beaten to Death in Pakistan"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

LAHORE<\/strong>, Pakistan<\/strong>, February 8, 2023 (Morning Star News<\/a>) \u2013 A Muslim landowner in Pakistan on Monday (Feb. 6) beat a Catholic farm laborer to death, claiming he had stolen oranges from his orchard, the victim\u2019s family said.<\/p>\n

The killing follows the shooting death last month of another Christian in the country after he stopped Muslims from stealing from his guava crop.<\/p>\n

In Punjab Province\u2019s Khanewal District, landlord Rana Muhammad Waseem and five others beat Emmanuel Masih, 48, to death early Monday morning as Masih irrigated his employer\u2019s fields in Chak Number 139\/10R village, according to the victim\u2019s nephew, Zahid Sahotra.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy uncle was busy in work when Waseem and the other men approached him and accused him of stealing their citrus,\u201d Sahotra told Morning Star News. \u201cHe pled his innocence, but the men lunged at him and beat him up mercilessly, resulting in his death.\u201d<\/p>\n

The impoverished laborer was the only breadwinner for his wife and six children, Sahotra said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was very hard-working and honest, and police found no evidence from the crime scene that suggested that he had committed any theft,\u201d he said, adding that the 35 Christian families in the village are poor laborers who work for Muslim landowners. \u201cWe are very poor and too weak to even think of offending the Muslim villagers. They know that we are helpless and that they can get away with anything, even murder.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that though the police had arrested Waseem and two others, getting justice from the courts would be an uphill task.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not have money to engage a good lawyer,\u201d Sahotra said. \u201cThe murderers are powerful people, and it\u2019s only a matter of time that they\u2019ll be out on bail by influencing the police investigation. The fact that we are Christians makes us more vulnerable to injustice.\u201d<\/p>\n

He appealed to church leaders and Christian rights groups to help the family.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in dire need of legal aid and financial assistance to cope with this tragedy,\u201d he said. \u201cPlease help us.\u201d<\/p>\n

‘No Chance at Justice’<\/h2>\n

The killing of Masih was not the first such crime against Pakistan\u2019s vulnerable Christian community as Islamic extremism and prejudice have gripped the country.<\/p>\n

From extrajudicial killings over false allegations of blasphemy to forced conversion and marriages of underage minority girls, Christians face widespread persecution in Pakistan.<\/p>\n

Also in Punjab Province, in Okara District\u2019s Renala village, 55-year-old Catholic Allah Ditta on Jan. 11 was gunned down by Muslims after he objected to their stealing fruit from his orchard, family members said.<\/p>\n

The victim\u2019s son, Shahbaz Masih, said that when his father confronted Muhammad Intizar, Muhammad Awais and one identified only as Usama, the trio allegedly called him a \u201cchuhra<\/em>,\u201d a pejorative label for Christians with \u201cno chance at justice\u201d even if they killed him. Masih said that they then then shot his father in the chest, killing him instantly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe murderers threatened me that they would kill our family if we informed the police,\u201d Masih told Morning Star News.<\/p>\n

Despite the threats, the family has registered a First Information Report (FIR) against the three men at the Renala Khurd Police Station under charges of premeditated murder (Section 302) and \u201ccommon intention\u201d (Section 34) of the Pakistan Penal Code.<\/p>\n

Masih said that police have arrested Intizar, while Awais and Usama remain at large.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsama\u2019s father is a retired army officer, and he offered us 500,000 rupees (US$1,810) as blood money to drop the charges against his son,\u201d Masih said. \u201cWe have rejected his offer, because we want justice for our slain father.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ditta\u2019s wife, Josephine Bibi, said that the family was struggling with day-to-day expenses since her husband was killed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are good Christian people who have always gotten along with our Muslim neighbors,\u201d she told Morning Star News. \u201cThese young men are the vilest of creatures who bear immense evil in their hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bibi lamented that her husband would never see his children through marriage and other life stages.<\/p>\n

\u201cI demand justice for my slain husband; he was killed because he was a Christian,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Pakistan ranked seventh on Open Doors\u2019 2023 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian, up from eighth the previous year.<\/p>\n

If you would like to help persecuted Christians, visit\u00a0<\/em>https:\/\/morningstarnews.org\/resources\/aid-agencies\/<\/em><\/a> for a list of organizations that can orient you on how to get involved.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you or your organization would like to help enable Morning Star News to continue raising awareness of persecuted Christians worldwide with original-content reporting, please consider collaborating at\u00a0<\/em>https:\/\/morningstarnews.org\/donate\/<\/em><\/a>?<\/em><\/p>\n

Article originally published by Morning Star News. Used with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n

Photo courtesy: \u00a9Getty Images\/Peter Togel, this is a stock image<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Rubi Menjivar<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LAHORE, Pakistan, February 8, 2023 (Morning Star News) \u2013 A Muslim landowner in Pakistan on Monday (Feb. 6) beat a Catholic farm laborer to death, claiming he had stolen oranges from his orchard, the victim\u2019s family said. The killing follows the shooting death last month of another Christian in the country after he stopped Muslims […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":607317,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[755,534,119092],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-607316","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-christian","8":"category-financial","9":"category-laborer"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}