WANA, Pakistan — A young Christian man is in hiding in Pakistan from Taliban militants who seek to kill him for blasphemy because he defended his faith.
In February, Jehanzaib Asher, 22, was working in a barbershop his family jointly owns with his cousin in Wana, South Waziristan — a Taliban stronghold in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in Pakistan’s northwest — when the Islamic militants showed up to try to convert him to Islam.
It was not the first time the Taliban’s Noor Hassan had delivered strident sermons to him and his relatives and this time Asher decided not to listen silently. He defended Christianity by citing verses from the Bible, and Hassan and another Islamic militant viciously beat him — breaking his left leg and some ribs and leaving his left hand nonfunctional. He said he only defended Christianity and did not comment on Islam.
“One can bear the death of one’s father or mother, but can we keep listening to insults of our religion?” Asher said.
The Taliban militants began spreading the word to local residents that Asher and his cousin Christopher Masih had blasphemed Muhammad, the prophet of Islam.
His picture was posted at checkpoints in an attempt to help the Taliban and other Islamists identify and kill him. Earlier in November, Asher said he disguised himself as a Muslim with a long beard and left Wana.
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