A Christian worker in Pakistan was shot after requesting his salary.
A recent incident of violence was reported in Pakistan, where a Christian laborer was shot after requesting his wages. The worker claimed he was denied his rightful payment and faced a brutal response to raising the issue. The incident highlights the problem of labor exploitation and violence against minority communities in the country.
Waqas Masih, a 42-year-old farm laborer in Chak No. 8 Panj Garaiyan Kamalpur village in Faisalabad District, Punjab Province, had asked for his wages to buy clothes for his two children for Easter celebrations, said his brother, Akash Masih.
Farm owners Luqman Jutt and Imran Jutt attacked Waqas Masih, a Catholic after he pleaded with them to pay his wages, his brother said.
“We could take him to the Allied Hospital in Faisalabad on time. Otherwise, he could have died due to excessive bleeding,” he said.
Although police registered a First Information Report (FIR) against the two suspects, they obtained pre-arrest bail and have returned to the village, he said.
“We are very poor, and a majority of the nearly 300 Christian families living in the village work as laborers for Muslim landowners,” Akash Masih said. “We are often subjected to cruelty and torture because we are weak and helpless.”
The assault was the owner’s second on his brother in less than four months, he said.
“In December, my father, brother Waqas, and his wife were attacked in our home when he requested his employers to pay his wages for Christmas,” Akash Masih said.
The family decided to sell their 816-square-foot house and leave the village for better prospects, but the landlords learned of their plans and were determined to keep them in bonded labor even though they had repaid a 150,000-rupee (US$540) loan taken from them as advance salary three years ago, he said.
“My brother has paid 70,000 Pakistani rupees [US$252] over the loan amount, but even then, they are deducting money from his wages,” Askash Masih said. “They have intentionally trapped us in this debt bondage to keep us from leaving their work.”
Local police were aiding the suspects, who are influential in the local community, he said.
“Neither of the two accused have been arrested, while on the other hand, we are being warned against raising the issue,” he said. “In such circumstances, there’s little hope for justice for us.”
Waqas Masih was recovering at home, but the attack has strained the family’s meager finances.
“I appeal to the police to give us justice and protect us from further exploitation by the landlords,” Akash Masih said. “This is our only demand to the government.”
Pakistani community leaders have pinpointed limited resources and high expenses as the primary barriers for religious minorities to accessing justice.
“A majority of Christians are poor, working-class people and consider their minority status as an exacerbation of their poverty,” said former Punjab Minister for Minorities Ejaz Alam Augustine, a Christian affiliated with the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). “They are not confident about attaining justice, and, unfortunately, the law also hasn’t taken ownership of them.”
“The rule of law and speedy justice are prerequisites for any civilized society,” he said. “Perpetrators of violence, especially when the victims belong to vulnerable communities, must be dealt with sternly, following the law.”
Pakistan maintained its seventh position on Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List, which ranks the most challenging places for Christians, as it did the previous year.
