ASIA/PAKISTAN-Christian family murdered in Punjab

Okara (Agenzia Fides) – An entire Christian family was brutally killed in Punjab. Four people were slaughtered in the Christian colony of Muhala Ahmad, in the city of Okara, in the south of Lahore, capital of Punjab. The victims are Shugufta Baber, Catholic, a teacher at the "Convent High School", Catholic school in Okara; her two sons, Zanib aged 12 and Zarish 15; her sister Samina Bibi, a nurse. The massacre took place during the night between 22 and 23 May, but only now the news has been released. The authors of the crime are unclear: according to preliminary reports, the responsible seems to be Dr. Baber Masih, a Christian Protestant and homeopathic physician, Shugufta’s husband, who could have committed the crime in the throes of a depressive state. The man found injured, was rushed to hospital, first in Okara and then in Lahore, where he died yesterday. At first he accused himself, then he spoke of "a group of unknown men who carried out the massacre."
The "Legal Evangelical Association Development" (LEAD), an NGO that has collected the fears of many families in Punjab, who live in total insecurity, after a mission on the spot seems to be inclined towards the work of "radical Islamic groups who wanted to deliberately hit Christians," explaining that "abuses and killings often happen out of jealousy or envy towards Christians: these are alarming episodes," says to Fides Pastor Mushtaq Gill, of the LEAD.
According to the local police, in charge of investigating the crime, so far the most accepted theory is that of a crazy act carried out by Baber, who then attempted to commit suicide. Some Christians in Okara say, however, that this could be "an attempt of throwing of tack" and say they are ready to resort to the federal police to ask for justice to shed full light on the massacre.
According to Fides sources in the city of Okara the relations between Christians and Muslims are good, but there are radical Islamic groups that have caused accidents in the past. The local community also remembers the demolition of a Christian cemetery in 2009, transformed by the civil authorities in a park. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 28/5/2012)