CP | Samuel Smith | March 4, 2020
A 22-year-old Christian man was beaten to death in Pakistan’s Punjab province by men who accused him of “contaminating” water in a well owned by a Muslim farmer.
Sources have told human rights organizations that Christian laborer Saleem Masih from the Kasur district of Punjab was chained, dragged, and beaten with rods by a landowner and four other men around Feb. 25.
Masih died from his injuries on Feb. 28 at Lahore General Hospital, according to the U.K.-based Centre for Legal Aid, Assitance and Settlement.
Masih’s older brother told the Union of Catholic Asia News that Masih was tortured for two hours for washing himself off in a tube well owned by a Muslim landowner who has been identified as Sher Doga.
“We have to take a bath after unloading husk from a trolley. Even the cold weather doesn’t matter. The itching from chaff, stuck in our clothes, disturbs our sleep,” Nadeem Masih was quoted as saying.
“They threatened him with dire consequences when he cleaned himself after unloading a vehicle last week. They accused him of desecrating their water. He was already being warned about making TikTok videos in farms belonging to Muslim landlords.”
Masih was discovered lying in Doga’s cattle farm with serious injuries on Feb. 25 in Bhagiana village, where many Christians work as farm laborers.
Nadeem Masih said local women informed him that they heard Masih moaning in pain around 7 a.m.
“He told the police about being chained, beaten and electrocuted by four men,” Nadeem Masih said. “They rolled a thick iron rod over his entire body. He was like a crushed sugar cane from a juice machine.”