A young Christian man was gunned down by Muslim landowners allegedly jealous of his success as a farmer in the first reported killing of a Christian in Pakistan in the new year, sources said.
Suleman Iqbal, a 25-year-old resident of the Kot Saadullah area, Ghakkar Mandi, Gujranwala District, Punjab Province, and his younger brother Dawood Iqbal were standing in the market on Sunday (Dec. 29) when they were attacked by six armed motorcyclists.
Iqbal’s father, Iqbal Masih, said one of the assailants was identified as Abdul Rehman Yaqoob, who resented his son obtaining a lease on the land.
“The assailants’ bullets hit Suleman in the stomach, while Dawood narrowly managed to save his life,” Masih said. “A bystander, Shamraiz Javed, also received a bullet injury in his knee in the attack.”
Masih said Suleman was rushed to a hospital, where he breathed his last on Wednesday (Jan. 1) after fighting for his life for two days. He said his son was a hardworking farmer who had managed to win a lease on a swathe of government land, which Yaqoob resented.
“Ever since he got the land, Suleman was being threatened by Yaqoob and his relatives,” Masih said. “They also even tried to damage his farming equipment, including a wheat thrashing machine, by firing bullets at it in October, but the police did not take any action against them due to their political influence.”
Iqbal tried his best to avoid enmity as he focused on his work, but the Muslim owners of nearby lands kept trying to provoke him.
“Suleman was a very gentle soul and a committed Christian,” Masih said. “He had gotten married some months ago, but the cruel criminals have turned his young wife into a widow and created a void in our life that will never be filled.”
Police have not been able to arrest the Yaqoob, who fled the area after committing the murder, he said.
“We demand justice from the police and the chief minister of Punjab Province, Maryam Nawaz,” Masih said. “If police had taken effective action against the criminals, my son would still be alive.”
A police official at the Gujranwala Cantt Police Station who gave his name only as Arif said that raids were being conducted to arrest the suspects.
“Suleman’s killers will be arrested very soon,” he said, adding that the area’s deputy superintendent of police was monitoring the case himself.
The killing of the young Christian came four days after three Christian men were shot and wounded in a Christmas Day gun attack on the home of a pastor and televangelist in Lahore. Following a Christmas Eve confrontation in which Pastor Shahzad Siddique tried to stop Muslims from harassing guests, more than a dozen gunmen the next day opened fire on Christians at a gathering outside his home in Lahore’s Maryam Colony, said Siddique, a Pentecostal preacher on satellite television channel Praise TV.
Three people, including Siddique’s uncle, driver and a church member, received bullet injuries on the arm, stomach, and leg.
“I believed that this country was safe for us, but now I’m forced to admit that it isn’t safe to be a Christian in Pakistan,” Pastor Siddique told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “I’ve always preached peace and tolerance, but this unprovoked attack has shown that extremist elements do not want a peaceful society.”
Violence against Christians in Pakistan has escalated in the recent years. On Aug. 16, 2023, a Muslim mob attacked Christian neighborhoods in Jaranwala Tehsil, Punjab Province, torching multiple churches and homes of Christians after two Christian men were accused of writing blasphemous content and desecrating the Quran.
Of the more than 300 people arrested for the violence, only one is still in jail, with the rest walking free on bail due to defective police investigation, rights advocates say.
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.
