A Christian boy was killed, and many others were injured when a group of people attacked them over a land dispute in a remote village in Punjab province of Pakistan, Minorities Concern of Pakistan has learnt.
Sabir Bashir, a teenage boy, was shot dead on the spot while 20 Christians, mainly women, were injured when a local influential Muslim land lord, Muhammad Ali Durrani, attacked Christian villagers on Oct. 6 in a village Chak 34 near Mian Channu town in Khanewal District (Punjab) and brutally tortured them. Around 100 families live in the village where Christians are a minority.
The injured were taken to the Nishtar Hospital Multan. While others are discharged, one Christian man Haroon Bashir, brother of Sabir Bashir, is still in the hospital. According to the doctors, although he is out of danger, he might lose sight of his one eye.
Police arrested 16 men (majority of them are known criminals) within an hour after the incident. Although police has been patrolling in the area, Christians are still lived in fear and distress.
A local Catholic priest, Fr. Ilyas John, from Khanewal told a news agency that it was not the first incident of land grabbing in Khanewal district; and influential Muslim feudal landlords target the weak and the vulnerable people on a routine basis.
Aftab Alexander Mughal is the Editor of Minorities Concern of Pakistan and a regular contributor to Speroforum.com
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