Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kasur (Agenzia Fides) - Influential Muslims take possession of 40 acres of farmland belonging to Christian families in Punjab, with the complicity of the police: as reported to Fides by local sources, it is a subtle instrument of oppression against Christians in Pakistan, "land grabbing", the appropriation of other peoples land. This abuse is systematically used by landowners and powerful Muslim businessmen in Pakistan, to the detriment of poor and defenseless families and of religious minorities.
As reported to Fides by trhe Christian organization LEAD ("Legal Evangelical Association Development "), in recent days, eight police officers of the District of Kasur (Punjab), along with armed men at the service of wealthy Muslim landowners, arrived on Christian agricultural land of Ashiq Masih and Khushi Masih. They started beating women who worked the fields, creating panic and disorder, then registering some criminal complaints (First Information Report) against the Christians. "The police violently removed the veil from our head and started to hit us," reported the women to the team LEAD. Following these complaints, Christians will be arrested and their land requisitioned and occupied by Muslim families who orchestrated the whole thing. "These operations - are usually successful because impunity is guaranteed. We will try to defend the rights of Christians in Punjab, legally, by resorting to court." (PA) (Agenzia Fides 25/7/2012)
