Saturday, November 08, 2014

Pakistan Christian Community Living in Fear after Mob Killings

Shama (L) was pregnant with her fifth child when the couple
were attacked and killed
BBC: The fertile landscape in Chak 59 of Kasur district in the Punjab province is dotted with hundreds of brick kilns.

The factories, owned by powerful landlords, are notorious for thriving on "bonded labour". Hundreds of thousands of people have remained locked in a cycle of debt and poverty for decades.

Rights groups call it a form of modern-day slavery.

Until last week, Sajjad Mesih and his wife Shama, a married Christian couple in their 30s, worked at one such brick kiln.

For years, they got up at dawn, laboured in harsh conditions through the day and finished up at dusk. That was their routine - every day, seven days a week. It was a life of debt and poverty that they hated.

On Tuesday, they were lynched and burnt to death there by a mob on allegations of blasphemy.

Blasphemy is an explosive issue in Pakistan. Reporting of violence in the name of blasphemy is often self-censored, twisted and confused by misreporting.

Piecing together the sequence of events and what led to vicious crimes on the pretext of blasphemy is not always straightforward.

But having visited the remote rural area and after speaking to up to a dozen or so people - including police, family, neighbours and eyewitnesses - here is an account of what the BBC has been able to put together. (+ BBC video) » | Shahzeb Jillani | BBC News | Kasur District | Pakistan | Saturday, November 08, 2014