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http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2007/s07060070.htm

ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA
Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net — E-mail: assistnews@aol.com

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Muslim men sodomize a Pakistani Christian youth
Mother faces threats to lose her job

By Sheraz Khurram Khan
Special Correspondent for ASSIST News Service in Pakistan

MANDI BAHAWALDIN, PAKISTAN (ANS) — A Christian youth was critically manhandled and sodomized by several unidentified Muslim men on the night between June 2 and 3 rd after he picked up a quarrel with his Muslim age fellow while playing Cricket in a play ground near District Headquarter (DHQ) Hospital MandiBhawaldin, ANS has learnt.

The trouble for 16-year-old Christian man, Imran Masih started when his Muslim friend, Naveed called him by the words “ Essai and Choora,” the bywords for Pakistani Christians used often by the Muslims to disgrace them.
Not knowing that his protest against the unwelcome language would make his position more vulnerable, the youth expressed his anger in a bid to stop Naveed from using the offensive language against him. This triggered a physical altercation between them. Naveed’s father, Muhammad Sadique, an ambulance driver of the DHQ Mandibahwaldin as well as the private driver of the Medical Superintendent, Amjad Iqbal arrived at the scene of incident and took the Christian youth to his home under the pretext of “reconciliation”.

As the Christian youth entered Sidique’s drawing room several Muslim men, who were waiting for their “victim” started forcing the minor boy to convert to Islam. Imran did not knuckle under the pressure and refused to embrace Islam. This angered the Muslim men and they started thrashing Imran with kicks and fists while some even bit him at his chest and other parts of his body to bully him into submission.

The Rays of Development (ROD), a non-governmental organization that investigated the case told ANS that most of the assailants were drunk.

“They threw liquor on his face and slapped and kicked him before subjecting him to sexual abuse”, Farhan Mazhar , Chairman of the ROD told ANS.

He went on to say that the Muslim men tucked his mouth in a sofa and stood on his hands and feet.

Later, they subjected him to sexual abuse one by one, he added.

The Muslim men allegedly continued to bugger the Christian youth throughout the night between 2 nd and 3rd June and threw the unconscious youth in the street outside their house.

Imran was picked up by his family members the next day.

“Imran could not move any part of his body. He was not in his senses. We wondered what had happened to him, “ Imran’s family members told ROD.

The youth revealed the traumatic incident to his family when he restored his senses after some time.

Imran’s mother, Kaneez bibi, who is a janitor at the hospital took his son to the Medical Superintendent of District Headquarter Hospital Mandi Bhawal Din for medical examination but he told her she was lying and showed him the door.

When the family approached the City Police Station Mandi Bahawldin for lodging a Police First Information Report (FIR) the police used dilly-dallying tactics and told them they should first obtain the Medical report.

The family members of the victim told the ROD that the hospital authorities and the Police kept them shuttling from the hospital to the police station and vice versa.

Imran’s family members further told ROD that the Police have been pressuring them for reconciliation. The high-ups of local district administration, and some local members of the provincial assembly Punjab are allegedly forcing the Christian family not to file the FIR. They threatened them with dire consequences if they did not change their mind, the ROD told ANS.

The police filed a fake theft report against Imran wherein he has been accused of stealing cash worth Rs 50,000 (US$ 833.3) and a mobile phone.

The ROD told the ANS that the police did file a report number 82 but have not filed FIR against the Muslim men who manhandled and abused the Christian youth sexually.

The accused are yet to be brought to the book despite the passage of a week. The incident has only come as a strain on the budget of the poor Christian family. After they are shunned treatment from government hospital the family is buying basic medicines like painkillers from the private chemists.

The writer is a freelance journalist based in Pakistan.

** You may republish this story with proper attribution.