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Pakistan

Christians Protest Killing Of Catholic Sanitation Worker

Updated: October 19, 2006 05:00 PM GMT
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About a thousand Christians recently protested the murder of a Catholic sanitation worker and demanded the immediate arrest of the killer.

The protesters held placards and banners condemning the murder of Tariq Masih. Christian Help Line (CHL) and Christian Action Committee (CAC) organized the Oct. 16 rally. It started from the Lahore Press Club and ended at the Punjab province Assembly Hall on Mall Road in Lahore, the Punjab capital, 270 kilometers southeast of Islamabad.

Two weeks earlier, CHL, a Catholic NGO working for human rights, staged a six hour sit-in near the press club that Tariq´s widow, Rosy, attended.

Liaqat Ali Gujjar shot Tariq, 26, an employee of Solid Waste Management (SWM), at 9 a.m. on Aug. 9 when the latter would not carry out dung from inside Gujjar´s house in Ravi Town, Lahore. Tariq died on the spot. The local Missri Shah area police registered a murder case against Gujjar, a Muslim who delivers milk, and on Oct. 14 took his father, who was at the murder scene, into custody. They are holding the father for interrogation, while Liaqat remains at large.

After the rally, Mushtaq Assi, president of Jhado Kash Mazdoor Union, a union of sanitation workers, told UCA News the death of the young worker would not be forgotten. He said sanitary workers are not respected for their hard work and are treated like animals. "People like cleanliness but hate those who collect the garbage," he remarked, complaining also of low salaries.

A large number of poor and illiterate Christians work as sanitary workers and are paid 4,500 rupees (US$75) monthly for cleaning in a specified area. They are not required to collect garbage from houses.

Rosy, 20, spoke with UCA News Oct. 17 at the CHL office about the day when her husband "walked out alive to his job, and in the evening his dead body came back." The couple married in mid-May this year. "I feel helpless now. There is nothing left in my life. I have no reason to live," she said.

Since the killing, she revealed, she has received death threats and been offered bribes to withdraw the case. "Christians in this country are not secure, especially the poor ones," Rosy said. She then appealed to all Christian organizations to help protect her and help her seek justice.

Rashid Chaudhry, CHL president, told UCA News that "collective courage and unity" are the only weapons in the battle for justice against the resourceful Gujjar family. He expressed concern over "undue arrests and court cases against Christians" and vowed that CHL would continue its struggle until the killer is brought to justice.

CHL and CAC plan to hold a meeting on Oct. 28 at Holy Innocent Church, Tariq´s parish church, where Capuchin Father Abid Habib, Lahore regional coordinator for the Pakistan major Religious superiors´ Justice and Peace Commission, helps Father George Daniel, the parish priest, once a week.

END

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