PAKISTAN CASE STUDIES
NEELAM MASIH
Faisal Basra was reportedly armed on the evening of February 14, 2021, when he entered Neelam’s home in Nanokay village, Punjab. 129 Neelam, a university student, told ACN: “Mr. Basra entered my home at gunpoint, dragged me to my bedroom and began to punch and kick me. He threw me onto the bed and started to rape me. He demanded I marry him and convert. I refused. I am not willing to deny Jesus and he said that if I would not agree he would kill me. Christian woman Neelam Majid Masih, 30, reported being sexually assaulted by a man, who tried to force her to marry him and convert to Islam. She said he would have killed her had her neighbour not intervened. 128
He hit me on the face with his pistol and I shouted and screamed and tried to escape but he kept pulling me back, dragging me by the hair.” 130 Nasir Masih, Neelam’s neighbour and second cousin, intervened and Mr Basra ran away. Neelam, who had injuries to her face, shoulder and legs, opened a First Information Report against Mr Basra, accusing him of rape. Her lawyer, Sumera ShaÀque, said: “Neelam is determined to tell her story to bring an end to attacks on Christian girls and young women.” 131
MAIRA SHAHBAZ
Maira, from Madina Town, near Faisalabad, was 14 in April 2020 when she was kidnapped at gunpoint, 133 and went into hiding after Áeeing the home of Mohamad Nakash Tariq. (For details see Foreword ). 134 Amid reports that suspicious armed men were going from house to house looking for Maira, on February 4, 2021, Aid to the Church in Need (UK) submitted an open letter to 10 Downing Street. The letter, calling on Boris Johnson to give asylum to Maira and her family, was signed by more than 30 bishops, parliamentarians and CEOs of charities supporting persecuted Christians. 135 When Christian girl Maira Shahbaz escaped her abductor in August 2020 and renounced her forced conversion and marriage, her abductor accused her of apostasy, 132 a capital offence in religious law.
ACN also launched a petition for Maira’s asylum, garnering more than 12,000 signatures. The petition was “drawn to…the urgent consideration” of Home Secretary Priti Patel by Fiona Bruce, the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief. 136 Priti Patel told the House of Commons on July 12, 2021, that Maira’s case “is very, very harrowing” 137 and the next day met Sir Edward Leigh MP, who had lobbied the Home Secretary on the subject, as well as Fiona Bruce and ACN’s John Pontifex, to discuss next steps. 138
34 | HEAR HER CRIES
Powered by FlippingBook