(South Punjab) Unlike
Muslims in Christian lands, Christians in Islamic ones are treated like dirt. They
are often resigned to the lower ranks of society and Pakistan is no different. However the parents of 17 year old Sharoon
Masih didn’t want for their child to follow in their footsteps and they
scrimped and saved to send him to MC Model Boys Government School .
His father, who worked at a brick kiln factory, had to save for years to afford even the nominal attendance fee. Unable to pay for the school uniform, Sharoon turned up on his first day in casual clothes. He told his mother that his teacher slapped him twice on the face, and forced him to stand outside all day in the sun. Mr Mol also called him “chuhra”, he said – a highly-offensive caste-based insult – and other boys tried to force him to convert to Islam.
The thing is, he was the only Christian there and he soon
felt the wrath of his fellow class mates who could accept the fact that there
was a Christian at their school. However after only 3 days, his fellow classmates decided they didn't want to share with a Christian and so they beat him to
death after claiming he had been drinking from the same glass as a Muslim. His teacher who was
in the classroom at the time stated he didn’t see anything as he was reading a
newspaper at the time. (really?) Police have arrested one student, Muhammad Ahmed Rana,
who told police that he lashed out after Mr Masih broke the screen on his
phone. Mr Rana has so far refused to name others involved in the attack.
