There are certain circumstances/incidents, where the word persecution becomes very trivial against them. Rehmat Masih is one of the person who lost all his hopes, faith and confidence due to his circumstances that led him to faithlessness and hopelessness. He suffered because he belongs to a Minority, a community that is creepy, sick, weak and poor and have no voice.
Background:
Rehmat Masih was living in a village Bahadar Pura in Kasur. He was a laborer but was earning good for him and his children. All his children were married, and his wife died so he was left alone. Therefore one of his daughter named Sajjida came to live with her father along with her husband and children so that her father may not live alone. Unfortunately the area where he lived was crowded with majority of Muslims and there was no other Christian house in that lane. Therefore the Muslims of that area wanted him to leave his house because he is a Christian and there was no other Christian living in that area. They forced him to leave his house because they felt that having a Christian home in their neighbor will contaminate their Holy Faith of Islam. Previously they invited him to embrace Islam but he refused and said that I am happy to be a Christian. So as it is famous that Christians are infidels so the people of that area wanted to get rid of that Infidel. Ch. Ahmad Deen was the first neighbor of Rehmat Masih so he was bound to remove the filth from his neighborhood. And that’s what he did. The plight of Rehmat Masih started from November 2016 when all the Muslim neighbors decided that Rehmat should vacate the house because he is Christian or either he converts his religion so that they may be saved from filth. But when Rehmat Masih refused, Ch. Ahmad threatened him badly for the dire consequences if he did not left the house.
That on 10th of December 2016, five men entered the house of Rehmat in the afternoon while his Daughter Sajjida was alone at home. The men had covered their faces so that she couldn’t see them. She asked them whether who were they but they started beating her and thrown her inside the room and locked the room. After that they raped her brutally and asked her to call and tell her father that if they did not left the house than they will do this again to her children as well. Sajida was injured brutally and was shouting for help but no one came to her help. Finally when her father and husband came to the house they saw her and took her to the Police station, but the Police registered a case of theft and they also told them to leave the house if they want to live respectfully and safely.
Rehmat and his family were very disappointed and started thinking about leaving the house, but it is not an easy task for a laborer to buy a new house and start over again. Then on 23rd January 2017, while everyone was sleeping in the middle of the night, the neighbors of Rehmat i.e. Ch. Ahmad and his accomplices threw the fire and the petrol in the house of Rehmat Masih. Rehmat’s house’s roofs are made with straw, so they caught fire easily. The house was started burning in no time, and it became difficult for the family to come out of the fire whereas no one from the neighbors came to help. Somehow his daughter and her husband were able to save the children but Rehmat Masih was burnt badly and so did his daughter and son-in law.
Rehmat Masih was admitted in the hospital right after that and the next morning on 24th Jan 2017, the family contacted The Voice for help. The Voice team Went for the fact finding and also went to see Rehmat in the hospital. The Voice took up the case and ensured the family for justice. The case is pending in Kasur courts.
Reported By,
TVS TEAM.
