By Jawad Mazhar Special Correspondent BosNewsLife reporting from Pakistan
GUJRANWALA, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)– A Christian sanitation worker was struggling for his life Tuesday, December 15, in a hospital of Pakistan’s Punjab province after two Christianco-workers already died because Muslim employers apparently poisoned them, police and familyconfirmed.
The father of the three workers, Yousaf Masih, said the incident happened Monday, December 14, ina banquet and wedding hall where his sons demanded wages owed to them.
Masih said the Muslim managers of the facility were angry that Christians dared to ask for payment.”My sons were apparently forced to consume some kind of poisoned drink, or a drug…They were left thereto die,” he said, adding that their bosses also made abusive remarks about Christianity.
Imran Masih, 29, and Irfan Masih, 25, died on the spot at the ‘Ferozewala Pul Banquet & Marriage Hall’while their brother 23-year-old Aakash Masih was eventually rushed to hospital by family members, Masihsaid.
NOT CALLING HOSPITAL
“The administration of the banquet and wedding hall did not call a hospital or take them to ahospital –instead they called us after the death of two of our loved ones.”
Aakash Masih was reportedly still in “critical condition” at the Intensive Care Unit of Civil Hospital Gujranwala in Punjab Province. The human remains of the two other brothers were taken forautopsy to the hospital, Masih said, as part of an apparent police investigation.
Police officials said they were still searching for the main suspects who they identified as Imtiyas Warriach,owner of the Ferozewala Pul Banquet & Marriage Hall, and hall manager Abid Virk. Both officials will becharged with “murder and deception, police said.
There have been several attacks against Christian sanitation workers across Pakistan a predominantlyMuslim nation. Minority Christians, who complain off discrimination, often work in difficult circumstances,according to church groups and rights organizations.
