Christian father murdered after freeing kidnapped daughter

According to human rights defenders, it is a revenge killing. In late March, Basharat Masih had managed to bring 12-year-old Hoorab home, three months after she was kidnapped by two Muslims who forcibly converted her to Islam.

Faisalabad () – In recent days, Basharat Masih, a Christian father who had fought for the release of his 12-year-old daughter, Hoorab, was assassinated in Pakistan. The girl had been kidnapped in December and recently the Faisalabad court in the Punjab had ordered her release. However, Basharat continued to receive death threats during and after the judicial process.

A few days ago, his sister, Maryam Bibi, filed a complaint at the Nishatabad police station, stating that on 24 April her brother was participating in a pigeon-flying contest when he heard screams and ran out into the street: a group of assailants had attacked Basharat and killed him.

Naveed Walter, president of Human Rights Focus Pakistan, commented that the killing of the Christian father appeared to be revenge for bringing the perpetrators of the Hoorab kidnapping to justice.

The girl had been kidnapped on December 28, 2022 by two merchants, Muhammad Mustafa and Muhammad Usman. The latter had converted the minor to Islam to marry her in the city of Chiniot. Since February 17, the girl had been in a shelter for women who have suffered violence or abuse (called Dar-ul-Aman) and had only been allowed to return to her family at the end of March, when she declared before the Faisalabad magistracy his wish to stay with his father.

Basharat Masih was a laborer working as a day laborer after losing his wife, and Hoorab used to go to Muhammad Usman and Muhammad Mustafa’s shop to help his family. Maryam Bibi said that the threats against them did not stop either during or after the court case was closed.

“The Hoorab case demonstrated once again that, even after a trial, threats against Christians do not end. Being easy targets, religious minorities suffer kidnappings, conversions and forced marriages. The perpetrators of Basharat Masih’s murder must be brought to justice,” added Naveed Walter.

Robin Daniel, a human rights activist who helped the family to recover Hoorab, calls for legislation to prohibit this type of violence: “The bill against forced conversions, which the previous government rejected as anti-Islamic, must be reintroduced. as well as the application of the law on the limitation of child marriages”.

“Considering forced conversions as a service to Islam also made the trials biased and challenging,” the activist continued. “Basharat Masih was killed because he was the father of Hoorab. We live in a society where a father who was demanding justice for his daughter is killed.”