Gunmen robbing a Catholic last week in Pakistan decided to tie him up and gang-rape his wife after learning the couple’s faith, sources said.
Adnan Masih, a 34-year-old brick kiln worker in Faisalabad District’s Chak 62-GB Channan village, and his wife were headed home on a motorcycle on the night of March 25 when two masked gunmen stopped them, he said.
“They snatched my cell phone and some money at gunpoint and then started threatening me to give them more money,” Masih told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “When I told them that I was a poor Christian and an ordinary worker at a brick kiln, they started whispering something into each other’s ears.”
One of them then made a phone call, and a third man soon arrived on a motorcycle, he said.
“One of them grabbed my wife’s arm and pulled her into a nearby sugarcane field while the other two men loosened the string of my shalwar [baggy pants] and used it to tie me to a tree,” Masih said. “They then followed their accomplice into the field and took turns raping my wife.”
His cries for help went unheard, and after the assault the men left the scene hurling threats, he said.
“I do not have the words that can express the helplessness and agony I felt during that time,” Masih said. “After some time, my wife emerged from the field, her clothes torn and tears flowing down her face. She could barely walk due to the assault, but she slowly approached me and untied my hands. Both of us then just sat there together and cried our hearts out, our minds numbed by the trauma and unable to think anything.”
The assailants had damaged his motorcycle, so the couple had to walk the rest of the way home with it. When they finally arrived, their three children and other relatives were waiting for them in the courtyard.
“We did not have the courage to tell them what had happened to us, so we just kept silent and went to our room,” Masih said, adding that they passed the rest of the night thinking about the effect news of the incident would have on their family.
“We then decided to pray and seek justice from God, which helped in comforting us and gave us hope,” said Masih.
The next morning, he called the police helpline about the crime.
“The police registered the case but took action only after the news broke out on national electronic media the next day,” he said. “Within a day, the police traced and arrested all three accused, as the Punjab chief minister had taken notice of the incident and ordered immediate action. The chief minister also sent the provincial police chief to our home, who promised us that the accused would be dealt with sternly.”
Masih expressed gratitude for a Christian lawmaker in the Punjab Assembly, Ejaz Augustine, who played a key role in drawing the chief minister’s attention to the crime and monitoring police action.
Augustine, who previously served as the provincial minister for human rights and minorities affairs, said he regretted that such crimes continue in spite of stiff punishments in Pakistani law, which call for either the death penalty or prison terms of between 10 and 25 years for rape.
“Minority women are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence as the perpetrators think of them as easy targets,” Augustine told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “Moreover, a majority of Christians living in Punjab are very poor and face several barriers in accessing justice. I hope that [Punjab Province] Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz will continue to ensure timely action against such criminals as well as provide complete justice to the affected families.”
Pakistan, whose population is 96-percent Muslim, ranked eighth on Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian.
