An 18-year-old Catholic woman in Pakistan said police have refused to arrest a Muslim who abducted and raped her at gunpoint last week.
Imaan Khurrum of the Kot Ranjeet Singh area of Sheikhupura District, Punjab Province, told a Christian news channel on YouTube that Ansar Shah abducted her on Nov. 7 as she was returning home from a shoe factory where she worked. Shah took her to an abandoned brick-kiln that was closed due to the recent dangerous levels of smog in the province and tortured and raped her, she told National News Nama.
Khurrum, who released her name to the news outlet, said Shah seized her on a deserted street and forced onto his motorcycle, and when she resisted, he pulled out a pistol and threatened her and her two younger brothers.
“He threatened to kill my brothers and forced me to sit on his motorcycle,” she said, her voice shaky and face veiled in the video. “After reaching the kiln, he dragged me into a room, tore my clothes and raped me. During this time, he repeatedly slapped and beat me up.”
For more than four months Shah had been harassing her as she made her way to work to support her family; her relatives complained to Shah’s family, but the harassment continued, Khurrum said.
Her mother, Sana Khurrum, identified herself to the news outlet, saying that her drug-addicted husband had abandoned the family two years ago, casting them into severe financial crisis.
“My daughter was targeted because we are poor and weak Christians,” she said in the video.
Imaan Khurrum and her mother said that despite repeated pleas to police, officers have not arrested the suspect. Imaan Khurrum’s uncle, Morris Nazir, said the suspect was roaming freely without fear of arrest.
“A week has passed since the rape, but the police have not arrested Shah,” Nazir told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “They briefly took his two relatives into custody but released them after taking a bribe.”
Nazir said Shah’s relatives were using various tactics to pressure her family to withdraw the First Information Report, and that police inaction indicated Shah’s family has influenced officers.
“We demand immediate legal action against Shah and protection for our family,” he said. “We are poor people and do not have the resources to hire a good lawyer. It is the government’s responsibility to give justice to our young daughter.”
Police have added insult to Imaan Khurrum’s trauma by failing to arrest Shah, he said.
“The Punjab chief minister and inspector general of police should take notice of our plight and order immediate arrest and prosecution of the accused,” Nazir said. “Shah must be punished for his crime; failure to do so will put other Christian girls also at risk of being attacked.”
Costs and lack of resources are the most prominent barriers for minorities in obtaining justice in Pakistan, according to rights advocates.
“It is the responsibility of the state to ensure that all citizens have instant and inexpensive access to justice regardless of their faith affiliations,” Christian attorney Lazar Allah Rakha previously told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News regarding a gang-rape of a Christian in Bahawalpur District. “The majority-versus-minority rhetoric has forced Christians and others to believe that they will not get the same treatment as Muslims. Therefore, it’s very important that the government should act to remove this impression.”
Pakistan ranked seventh on Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian, as it was the previous year.
