By BosNewsLife Asia Service
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)– A young Christian man from Pakistan has been raped and murdered by angry Muslims, for making love with his Muslim girl friend and refusing to convert to Islam, a Christian rights group said.
The young Christian, Litto, was studying for a Masters Degree in English when he met and fell in love with a Muslim girl from his village, said International Christian Concern (ICC), which closely monitored the case.
“During their courtship, she repeatedly attempted to entice him into becoming a Muslim,” ICC said in a statement seen by BosNewslife Tuesday, June 9.
In published remarks, Litto’s father, Amjad Masih Ghauri, said that the problems began “On May 10 when my son and that Muslim girl, Shazia Cheema, were making love in a lonely part of the fields” in the village of Adda 46 SB, some 45 kilometers east of the Pakistani town of Sargodha. Apparently her two elder Muslim brothers “found them in an objectionable posture and this enraged them.”
BRIEF ESCAPE
Litto managed to escape the scene and ran home, telling his father everything, ICC said. “The next day Shazia’s three brothers arrived at Litto’s house, where they demanded that Litto convert to Islam and marry their sister. Litto said he would marry her, but that he would not convert to Islam. This infuriated the brothers, who kidnapped him at gunpoint and threw him into their car,” the group added.
Ghauri immediately reported to the police what had happened, but the officer on duty allegedly said, “How dare you Choohra”, a derogatory term for Christian, “cast malicious eyes on a Muslim girl.”
Denied help by the police, Ghauri gathered some of his relatives and searched the countryside for his son for three days until finding his body on May 15, ICC said. The autopsy apparently revealed that
Litto had been sodomized, flogged, clubbed, and stabbed five times in the stomach and genitals. “He died from the stab wounds. It is almost certain that during the four days Litto was kidnapped, he was offered land, wealth, and his girlfriend if he were to convert to Islam,” ICC added. “It was his refusal to become a Muslim that spelled his death sentence in the eyes of these radical Muslims.”
COURT CASE
Police have reportedly filed a court case against the three brothers, but ICC said they have taken no action. Police officials could not immediately be reached for comment. “The three young men are roaming freely in the village and telling everyone that they have “taught a good lesson to the Choohras”, ICC claimed.
“It is likely that Shazia was operating at the command of her brothers to catch Litto in a compromising situation. It is common in Pakistan for Muslims to use their sisters or daughters to entice Christians to convert to Islam.” It was difficult to reach family members for comment.
ICC said it has urged Christians around the world to contact Pakistani embassies “to protest this outrageous miscarriage of justice,” and said the local Atta Shaheed Police Station, which is in charge of the investigation has so far not detained the suspects.
