FAROOQABAD, Pakistan — Defying a court order, police in Pakistan’s Punjab Province forcibly evicted a pastor and his family from their home mid-October after Muslims attacked in a bid to seize the property, sources said.
Pastor Michael Robert of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Farooqabad, was at home with his family in the Mohalla Sadiqabad area Oct. 19 when more than 50 armed men, led by Hameed Gaadi, stormed their house and beat them, an attorney for advocacy group The Voice Society said.
The attack left Robert, his wife and father seriously injured.
One witness said the assailants sought to seize the property, which is already the subject of a legal dispute. Christians in 96-percent Muslim Pakistan are commonly deprived of rights by Muslims who believe they can act against the minority community with impunity. When Gaadi and his men arrived that night, police were soon informed but took enough time reaching the scene that the assailants were able to damage and remove the family belongings, Maria said.
“Rather than making efforts to arrest the accused persons, the police put a lock on the gate and announced that it was seizing the property because it was disputed,” she said. “This is a clear violation of the court’s restraining order and a grave injustice for the pastor and his family, who have been forced out of their own home by the police at the behest of gangsters.” (MS)
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