Deceased Body of Shazia Bashir

--- 01/27/2010 

SOURCE - ICC

The ICC is reporting that an influential Muslim lawyer in Pakistan has been accused of raping, torturing, and murdering 12-year-old Christian Shazia Bashir. The incident was nearly covered up, until pressure from the victim's family and media forced the local medical board to perform a second autopsy on Bashir.

Bashir's accuser, Mohammad Naeem, is a member of the Lahore High Court Bar Association and resident of the Defense Housing Authority in Lahore. Bashir was allegedly murdered in Naeem's home where she was working as a maid since 2009.

The article reports that after raping, torturing and killing Shazia, Mr. Naeem came to Nasreen's house and attempted to give her mother 30,000 Pakistani Rupees ($352) and warned her to keep silent about the killing.

Nasreen refused to accept the offer and reported the brutal murder of her daughter to the police at Litton Road Police Station. The police officers at the station refused to investigate the crime, telling Nasreen that "a case against a lawyer cannot be registered."

According to a statement by Pervaiz Iqbal, a Pakistani Christian leader, Shazia's murder is another sign of "escalation of violence and hate crimes against Christians in Pakistan."

Injustice is very common for Christians in Pakistan and this incident has yet again stoked fears among the Christian minority population about their eroding human rights within the country. 

Please keep the nation of Pakistan in prayer.

[ READ FULL STORY HERE ]