KOT ADDU, Pakistan — In an attempted land-grab in southern Punjab province, police and cohorts of a retired military official beat two Christian women and shot at Christians who came to help them Nov. 25, area Christians said.
About eight police officials led by Subinspector Muhammad Arif of Kot Sarwar Shaheed police station, along with armed associates of a retired senior military officer, Air Marshal Maqbool Shah, arrived at the fields of Nazeer Masih in the Kot Addu area and ordered the six or seven women working there to leave, said area Christian rights advocate Waseem Shakir.
The women included Masih’s wife, Martha Bibi. The men told the workers that they had come to take possession of the 12.5 acres that Masih owns in Mauza Sadiqabad area of Muzaffargarh district, which they claimed had now been allotted by the revenue department to the Pakistan Army for distribution among retired officials. Bibi said the women are still in shock.
“They pulled away our headscarves from our heads and started hitting us indiscriminately with clubs and punches,” she said. The deputy superintendent of police declined to comment on the case.
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