Demand for justice after Christian man found hanged

CHURCH leaders are demanding justice after a Christian labourer in Pakistan was found hanged at a farm outbuilding amid growing suspicions that he was tortured to death.

Catholic man Marqas Masih, 22, was reportedly discovered dead at the farm outside the Punjab city of Sargodha.

The deceased’s family state the farm owner told them on 2nd March that Mr Masih had committed suicide and when they went to collect the body, led by the deceased’s elder brother, Dilshad, they found him hanging in a farm outbuilding set aside for animals and tools.

But, as the family prepared the body for burial, they noticed cuts, bruises and other marks which they say are consistent with torture. 

The family called the police but when their pleas went unanswered more than 100 Christians carried the deceased’s body on a bed (charpoy) and blocked a main road into Sargodha.   

In response, the police carried out a postmortem which showed that, as well as signs of strangulation, there were multiple abrasions to the chest and hip. 

The police arrested Muhammad Bashrat, the farm landlord, who reported the death to Mr Masih’s family, and another man, Mohammad Moshan. 

The National (Catholic) Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP), a Church-led advocacy organisation supported by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), the Catholic charity which supports persecuted Christians, has issued a statement calling for a government-led investigation.

Speaking to ACN, Naeem Yousaf Gill, NCJP executive secretary, said: “The authorities should not leave Christians to be treated as second class citizens. We should be treated as equal citizens.

“We demand a fully transparent investigation.” 

He said the inquiry should investigate the motive behind the alleged killing, amid uncertainty about whether religious hatred played a part.

Mr Gill said that, while there is no proof of a religious motive, when family visited Mr Masih while he worked at the farm they were subjected to anti-Christian hate speech including the use of ‘Chura’, a derogatory word meaning filthy often used against Churchgoers.

They also claim the deceased was the only Christian labourer at the farm. 

In a NCJP public statement, Mr Gill and the organisation’s chairman, Bishop Samson Shukardin of Hyderabad, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan, “jointly call on the authorities to conduct a full investigation into the incident, bring the facts to light and ensure that justice is delivered to this vulnerable community.” 

According to the statement, “Marks of torture were visible on the body of the deceased. The local Christian community and Marqas Masih’s family have refused to accept the official characterisation of the death as a suicide, asserting instead that he was murdered.”

Christians and other minorities in parts of Sargodha were forced into lockdown in May-June 2024 after Christian shoe factory owner Nazir Masih Gill, 75, was lynched by a mob following accusations of blasphemy.