KHANEWAL, Pakistan — Muslims in Pakistan’s Mian Channu area in southern Punjab province shot dead an unarmed Christian and injured 21 others, six of them critically, during an attempted land grab Oct. 5. Residents of the area said 40 to 45 heavily armed Muslims on 10 to 12 motorcycles, two tractor-trolleys and in a car reached a village in Khanewal district and forcibly entered the home of Adeel Kashif, a Christian carpenter who was living on a government-owned piece of land.
“The attackers forced their way into Kashif’s house and started throwing the family’s belongings onto the street,” Wazir Masih, a Christian elder in the area, said. “They also tore the clothes off Kashif’s three female family members — Violet, 40; Parveen, 35; and Esther, 17, and tortured the family.” Masih said the Muslims wanted to take illegal possession of the 18-marla piece of land (in Pakistan, one marla equals 30.25 square yards), which the government makes available to laborers or craftsmen in exchange for the help they can offer to villagers.
Muslims suddenly began firing indiscriminately on the Christians, killing 25-year-old Sajid Bashir Masih and seriously injuring 21 others, including women and children. Six of the injured were in critical condition, one of them Sajid Bashir Masih’s younger brother, Haroon. “The Christians had done nothing to provoke the Muslims into employing such brute force,” Masih said. “They just opened fire on the defenseless people with their automatic rifles and shotguns.”
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