Christian woman burnt alive over 'blasphemy' was pregnant

[SrNair]

He is my brothers son.


But they could have fired in air. Done something instead of just surrendering to mob but then they are Pakistani policemen we talking abt

So you are from Punjab?

 

[jatt+gutts]

So you are from Punjab?

Yep I am but i livin Canada 6 months in a year. My brother n family liv in amritsar

 

[Rafi]

I am sitting here in tears - this has just affected me terribly - listening to some Samuel Barber - man's intolerance to our brother man.

And ask ye why these sad tears stream?
Why these wan eyes are dim with weeping?
I had a dream–a lovely dream,
Of her that in the grave is sleeping.

I saw her as ’twas yesterday,
The bloom upon her cheek still glowing;
And round her play’d a golden ray,
And on her brows were gay flowers blowing.

With angel-hand she swept a lyre,
A garland red with roses bound it;
Its strings were wreath’d with lambent fire
And amaranth was woven round it.

I saw her mid the realms of light,
In everlasting radiance gleaming;
Co-equal with the seraphs bright,
Mid thousand thousand angels beaming.

I strove to reach her, when, behold,
Those fairy forms of bliss Elysian,
And all that rich scene wrapt in gold,
Faded in air–a lovely vision!

And I awoke, but oh! to me
That waking hour was doubly weary;

And yet I could not envy thee,
Although so blest, and I so dreary.

 

[Thorough Pro]

This is such a shameful and barbaric act!

what's the difference between Bharti's and Pakistani's.

This must stop, our courts need to step up and step up and set a precedence by hanging all the culprits involved in this crime.

 

[jatt+gutts]

So eye colour must be hereditary?

My Bhabi has green eyes n brother is brown eyed.

 

[Aepsilons]

View attachment 146508
RELATIVES and friends mourn the death of the Christian couple in Kot Radha Kishan on Wednesday.—AFP
KASUR: Police arrested on Wednesday 50 villagers who were part of a mob which reportedly burnt alive a Christian couple in a brick kiln in Kot Radha Kishan for allegedly desecrating pages of the Holy Quran. The woman, mother of three, was pregnant.

Kasur District Police Officer Jawad Qamar confirmed the arrests and said a local religious leader had fanned the issue. But the DPO did not disclose his name.

View attachment 146509
Relatives lay flowers at the site of the murder of the Christian couple at a brick kiln in Kot Radha Kishan, some 60 kilometres (40 miles) southwest of Lahore on November 5 - AFP
Police and witnesses told Dawn that announcements had been made from mosques on Tuesday asking villagers to gather at the Yousaf brick kiln where 25-year-old Shama and her husband Shahzad Masih worked as bonded labourers.

Over 1,000 charged people from three villages took out the couple from a room (where they had taken shelter) after tearing apart its roof. The mob tortured the couple before putting them into the kiln’s furnace.

View attachment 146510
A man shows the media the room of the murdered Christian couple - AFP
The mob held hostage five policemen who tried to rescue the couple. The villagers also manhandled some media personnel and snatched their cameras.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif took notice of the incident and the latter constituted a three-member committee comprising the secretary of minority affairs, chairman of CM’s inspection team and additional IG to investigate the matter.

View attachment 146511
Police stand guard as members of a committee investigate the killing - AFP
On instructions of the chief minister, Kasur police enhanced security of the Christian community in the village and in Klarkabad, mostly inhabited by Christians about 3km from Chak 59, the place of the incident.

Police registered a case against 660 villagers, including 60 who have been nominated in the FIR. Police also blocked all routes leading to Chak 59 and Klarkabad.

There are about 12 houses of the Christian community in Chak 59 and all the residents had left the village when this correspondent reached there on Wednesday. The local Muslim population also left the villages because police were raiding their houses.

View attachment 146512
Christians gather and pray for the murdered Christian couple in Kot Radha Kishan - AFP
The village wore a deserted look and its only market comprising some makeshift shops was closed. Police were deployed at various corners of the village.

According to the FIR lodged on the complaint of Sub-Inspector Mohammad Ali of Chowki Factory Area, police received information that villagers were torturing a Christian woman and her husband. A police team comprising five personnel reached the place but about 600 charged villagers had besieged a room where Shama and Shahzad Masih had taken shelter for fear of the mob. Some villagers tore apart the roof of the room and forcibly took the couple out.

They thrashed the couple before dragging them to the kiln where 18 accused, including the kiln owner Mohammad Yousaf Gujar and his accountants Shakeel and Afzal, allegedly removed a lid from one of the openings of the furnace and threw the couple into it.

“Both Shama and Shahzad were reduced to ashes in no time,” the FIR said.

It said that 60 accused nominated in the FIR, including the kiln owner and his staff, had incited the villagers to violence by managing announcements through loudspeakers of the mosques in Chak 59, Chak 60, Chak Rossa and Chak Bhail. The accused burnt the Christian couple alive, beat up police officials and fanned a mass hysteria.

The Kot Radha Kishan police station registered the case under sections 302, 436, 201, 148, 149, 353 and 186 of the PPC and 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

On Wednesday, police produced 43 of the arrested people before an anti-terrorism court which remanded four of them in police custody and sent 39 others to jail on judicial remand.

Bilqees, a local Muslim resident, told Dawn that Shama, known in the village as Saima, married Shahzad Masih about eight years ago. They had three children aged between two and seven.

She said Shama was pregnant at the time of the incident. Nazir Masih, father-in-law of Shama, was a faith healer and died a few weeks ago. After his death, Shama had burnt some of his belongings, including papers.

View attachment 146513
This undated family handout photo received on November 5 shows the Christian couple who were killed by a Muslim mob in Kot Radha Kishan - AFP
Answering a question, she said Shama was illiterate.

Bilqees said a vendor who had visited the brick kiln found the pages of the Holy Quran and showed them to the villagers. Later on Tuesday morning, hundreds of villagers gathered at the kiln and burnt the couple alive without even listening to Shama.

“She was screaming that she was unaware of what the papers were about, but no-one listened to her,” Bilqees said.

Abdul Shakoor, a male member of the Bilqees family, said the mob’s behaviour could not be justified and the treatment meted out to the young couple was inhuman and brutal.

General Secretary of the All Pakistan Brick Kiln Association, Mehar Abdul Haq, told Dawn that the kiln owner had been nominated in case, although he was not present at the time of the incident. He demanded a fair inquiry into the matter.

View attachment 146514
Members of the Christian community hold placards and wooden crosses during a demonstration to condemn the death of the Christian couple - AFP
Meanwhile, members of the Christian community held protest demonstrations in Kot Radha Kishan on Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, November 6th , 2014

Source:- 50 villagers held over burning of Christian couple to death - Newspaper - DAWN.COM

This is very depressing to hear. But I hope this is only a minority case in Pakistan. Anyways, hoping that justice will be delivered. My faith goes to the Pakistani Government to take care of this.

 

[Butchcassidy]

What to say when a piece of paper takes precedence over human life

 

[faisal6309]

what is stopping us now?
Hate was already present, they just used it for their own benefit.

Our religious figures and politicians. There was hate before but we were still living with it. It was further sparked by British.
The peace can only happen if well educated and mature politicians come up in both countries.

lool so we are at fault for Your imams/clerics(who are suppose to be leasers/examples for others)in Mosque telling their followers to go out and arrest/torture and kill a woman because she so called 'desacrated' KORAN? lol
Too much religion indeed is never good for a country Karl Marx was indeed right, sometimes when it gets out of hand, it indeed becomes an opium for the masses.

You helped Saudis against Ottoman. They came into power. They brought Wahhabism with them in South Asia and now we are suffering.

 

[unbiasedopinion]

First of all, all religious peoples creating tolerance and keep up the values of other religion in minds.
They should not hit any religious perspectives. In Pakistan Blasphemy waste numarious life's, even Pakistan have law regarding this.
Here one thing is fair is every body have sentiments regarding its religion, if any one hit other religion so he violating its Duties in society.
After all if any one convected in this religious violation than hand over that person to law enforcement is the duty of public but they should not execute them by own, so if law do not take notice on their alarm than Jihad is duty in Islam.
it is very sad incident via lose of life, every one is respected in Islam until they don't violate its range.

Jihad against the accused or the administration for not doing its duty?

But they could have fired in air. Done something instead of just surrendering to mob but then they are Pakistani policemen we talking abt

Easy to say because we were not present there and are comfortable in our houses. Facing a mad mob is not easy and may be they went there without arms or their arms were snatched or they were captured before anything can be done or it may be half hearted effort as well just to show they were doing their duty. There can be numerous versions or possibilities. A proper investigation can only solve this.

More over if the police and administration now act and punish the guilty it will be a much appreciated work by the Pakistan Government as it will create a sense of security among the terrifies minority community.

 

[VCheng]

Pakistani Christians Burned Alive Were Attacked by 1,200 People: Kin - NBC News

Pakistani Christians Burned Alive Were Attacked by 1,200 People: Kin

BY WAJAHAT S. KHAN AND ALEXANDER SMITH

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A mob accused of burning alive a Christian couple in an industrial kiln in Pakistan allegedly wrapped a pregnant mother in cotton so she would catch fire more easily, according to family members who witnessed the attack.

Sajjad Maseeh, 27, and his wife Shama Bibi, 24, were set upon by at least 1,200 people after rumors circulated that they had burned verses from the Quran, family spokesman Javed Maseeh told NBC News via telephone late Thursday. Their legs were also broken so they couldn't run away.

"They picked them up by their arms and legs and held them over the brick furnace until their clothes caught fire," he said. "And then they threw them inside the furnace."

Bibi, a mother of four who was four months pregnant, was wearing an outfit that initially didn't burn, according to Javed Maseeh. The mob removed her from over the kiln and wrapped her up in cotton to make sure the garments would be set alight.

AFP - GETTY IMAGES
Shama Bibi and Sajjad Maseeh were killed by a Muslim mob in Kot Radha Kishan, Pakistan.
Although burning the Quran is technically punishable by death in Pakistan, Tuesday's killing in Punjab province has triggered protests by the country's Christians and prompted Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to say he would show "no mercy" to those responsible.

As rumors gathered pace that they had burned pages from the Muslim holy book, the couple tried to flee but were forbidden to leave by the brick factory's owner. Just like their parents, the slain pair worked under an arrangement of bonded labor and the owner said they owed him money.

Accompanied by a dozen people, factory owner Yousaf Gujjar allegedly went to the couple's home last weekend and locked them in an office so they couldn't leave. By Tuesday, loudspeaker announcements from local mosques were branding Sajjad and Shama as "blasphemous" and saying they should be "wajib-ul-qatal," which translates as "necessarily murdered," according to the family's account.

Unable to break down the office door, the swelling crowd ripped open the building’s thatched roof. "They first threw bricks at them," said Javed Maseeh, who is Sajjad's cousin. "Then they dragged them out" and burned them.

NBC NEWS
The roof of the room where Sajjad Maseeh and Shama Bibi were locked inside was ripped apart as the attacking mob came from all sides. According to eyewitnesses, the attackers pelted bricks at the young couple from the opening in the roof.
Sajjad Maseeh, who was also known by his nickname "Shahbaz," was just seven years old when he started working at the factory. His family was tied to it through an arrangement of bonded labor whereby cross-generational debts were paid back through toil.

Sajjad Maseeh was born in the building where he was brutally murdered, according to his cousin.

"The bones are still being found," Javed Maseeh said. "Friends keep on collecting them and bringing them to us in batches of two or three. We will bury these bones when we have enough for the bodies. But we will not find all of them, I'm sure."

Whether or not the couple burned a Quran is still unclear. Sajjad Maseeh's brothers denied it. However, Mushtaq Gill, a lawyer and Christian rights activist in Pakistan, said verses from the religious text were among a pile of unwanted possessions owned by Sajjad Maseeh's recently deceased father. The belongings were cleared away and burned by Bibi, whom Gill said was "uneducated and probably didn't realize she was burning the Quran and not just any documents."

Before the mob attacked Bibi, a sister who recently converted to Islam played the role of mediator and offered her the option to adopt the religion to calm tensions, according to Javed Maseeh's account. "Shama rejected this proposal," he said.

The slain husband had a Muslin convert brother, Fayaz, who stayed in the village and is safe. But his three Christian brothers, Saleem, Imtiaz and Nawaz, witnessed the incident and spoke to NBC News through Javed Maseeh. They have escaped and are claiming their lives are now in danger.

Four suspects remain in custody and another 50 were booked and are being investigated, according to local police.

Pakistan’s Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, brother of Prime Minister Sharif, is promising the family five million rupees (around $50,000) and 10 acres of land in compensation.

According to the National Minority Alliance, Christians form under three percent of Pakistan’s estimated 180 million people.

Pakistan's much-debated "Blasphemy Law" is often used to target Christians and other minorities. In 2012, 14-year-old Rimsha Masih was falsely accused of burning the Quran, the sacred Islamic text. Charges were later dropped amid international concern for her safety, but the law, remains on the books.

Alexander Smith contributed to this report from London.

WAJAHAT S. KHAN