LAHORE, Pakistan — A Christian accused of touching a “sacred” text with “unclean hands” was attacked by a co-worker, who slashed the Christian’s throat.
Christian Daily International-Morning Star News reports that Waqas Masih was attacked March 21 at Subhan Allah Paper Mills in the Sharaqpur area of Pakistan’s Punjab province.
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“The factory’s shift in-charge, Zohaib Iftikhar, attacked my son with a cutter blade, slashing his jugular vein,” Waqas’ father, Riyasat Masih, told the news outlet.
Accused of ‘unclean hands’
Riyasat Masih added that members of management took his son to a hospital and detained the assailant until police arrived.
Once conscious again, Waqas Masih wrote that Iftikhar attacked him, accusing him of the blasphemy of touching an Islamic textbook with “unclean hands.” He said Iftikhar also had been pushing him to convert to Islam.
“We think that Iftikhar falsely used the blasphemy allegation to target Waqas because he was not surrendering to his demands for conversion,” Riyasat Masih told the news outlet.
World Watch
Recently, Pakistan has seen a significant spike in the number of false accusations of blasphemy, the news outlet states.
Pakistan is No. 8 on Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List of places most difficult to be a Christian.
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