The criminal nexus between Pakistans government administration, police and Muslim fundamentalist organizations has once again brought to the limelight in the extra-judicial torture and killing of a Christian boy following a hate campaign against Christians in Jethki village, Sialkot district, Punjab province on September 11. Please refer to our previous AHRC statement: http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2009statements/2224/.
The killing of Mr. Fanish Maseeh (20) starkly exposes the collusion between the local authorities with, on one hand, the police, and on the other Muslim fundamentalists, who wish to prevent independent enquiries into their false allegations of blasphemy made against Maseeh and four other Christians. It appears that they were concerned that Maseeh (an important witness to the cause of the Jethki riot) would reveal their crimes if he remained alive. According to credible sources, the accusation of blasphemy made against Maseeh was merely a pretext to arrest the young victim, who had allegedly been developing a romantic relationship with a Muslim girl. The relationship was bitterly opposed by the girls family and religious radicals in the community.
Mr. Maseeh, accused of blasphemy by the same Muslim clerics who instigated the Jethki riot, was allegedly tortured and killed extra-judicially in the Sialkot prison yesterday, on September 15. His body was found just three days after he turned himself over to police in exchange for the release of his father, Mr. Rehmat Maseeh (50), who had been illegally booked and kept hostage by the police since the day of the riot. The police have alleged that Maseeh committed suicide in prison. However witnesses have testified to the contrary, noting that there were no marks of strangulation on his neck and that the body was covered with injuries that plausibly resulted from torture.
The AHRC is appalled by the extent to which the religious leaders are willing to go to, to cover up the truth. The violence inflicted upon Maseeh demonstrates recklessness, and confidence in their own impunity; the compliance of the police is a painful indication of how powerless of law enforcement agencies have become before influential social groups. These among them various Islamic fundamentalist organizations are virtually operating above the law, and appear able to intervene in judicial processes with relative ease.
This impunity also emphasizes the extreme vulnerability of religious minorities in Pakistan, particularly in Punjab. This latest case indicates that the government is both unwilling and unable to provide basic security to religious minorities in prison.
The AHRC strongly condemns the extra-judicial killing of witnesses by police officers in Sialkot, and urges the government to begin an immediate independent investigation. The police officers suspected of involvement in Maseehs torture and murder must be suspended from work until the investigation is completed, and the Muslim leaders who made false accusations and incited violence against Christians (using mosque loud speakers) must be convicted to deter such practices in future. The AHRC urges the Pakistani government to ensure that law enforcement agencies extract themselves from the grip of political and religious organisations for the sake of expediency, to the continual, often fatal detriment of civilians.
