ICC Note:

Due to widespread discrimination and persecution in Pakistan, Christians are often relegated to the lowest rungs of society. Many work as simple labors, street sweepers, and domestic workers. Because of this low position, Christian women are especially vulnerable to abuse by Pakistan’s majority. In October, an elderly Christian woman was brutally beaten by a Muslim man for refusing to clean the man’s house. Justice for the Christian woman has been hard to come by and has required the intervention of an international organization to push forward. 

12/13/2016 Pakistan (ACLJ) – An elderly Christian woman in Pakistan was brutally beaten, facing unthinkable injustice. We’re taking action.

Our international affiliate, European Centre for Law and Justice’s office, the Organization for Legal Aid (OLA), is representing a Christian woman who was assaulted by an influential Muslim for refusing to clean his house.

Bashiran Bibi, a fifty-eight-year-old Christian woman, lives in Pattoki about fifty miles southwest of Lahore, and cleans houses for a living because her husband is paralyzed and cannot work. Having converted to Christianity from the lower caste of Hinduism during the British Raj, many Christians in Pakistan are poor and work as sanitation workers, cleaning homes, offices, and sewers.

On September 24, 2016, Bashiran was throwing out garbage after a cleaning job when Muhammad Afzal, a prominent Muslim landlord in the village, asked her to stop by his house. She stopped by Afzal’s place, and he asked her to clean his house. Bashiran refused, stating that she was too old to take another job. Afzal became angry upon hearing how a Christian could refuse to take orders. He grabbed Bashiran by her hair, pushed her to the floor, and began kicking and punching her until she became unconscious. Afzal’s wife pleaded before him to leave Bashiran alone but Afzal did not listen to her. When Bashiran regained consciousness she went home. She was badly injured and a medical exam revealed a fractured shoulder.

Bashiran’s son, Paras Masih, took her to the local police station to register a complaint, but the police refused to register it. This often happens in Pakistan when the police officials collude with influential parties after taking bribes.

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