- Joined
- Mar 11, 2013
- Messages
- 13,178
- Points
- 113
https://acnuk.org/news/pakistan-raped-punched-kicked-and-hit-with-a-pistol-but-undaunted/
A young Christian woman in Pakistan has described how she struggled for her life when a man entered her home at gunpoint, began raping her and tried to kill her after she refused to marry him and convert to Islam.
Neelam Majid Masih, 30, is determined to tell her story in spite of reports that friends and family of alleged culprit Faisal Basra are trying to hunt her down and kill her for standing up to him.
Mr Basra, who is in his late 20s, has pleaded guilty after being charged with rape under section 376 of the Pakistan Penal Crime and faces 10 years in prison.
Her lawyer, Sumera Shafique, says her decision to go public is “very unusual” as most victims are cowed into silence.Miss Masih told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), which campaigns for persecuted Christians: “I want the world to know what happened to me.”
Miss Masih said she was alone at home in Nanokay, a village in the Punjab province when Mr Basra “entered my home at gunpoint, dragged me to my bedroom and began to punch and kick me.
“He hit me on the face with his pistol and I shouted and screamed and tried to escape but he kept pulling me back, dragging me by my hair.”“He threw me on the bed and started to rape me. He demanded I marry him and convert to Islam. I refused. I am not willing to deny Jesus and he said that if I would not agree he would kill me.”
Eventually, Neelam’s neighbour, Nasir Masih, who is also her second cousin, heard her cries and rushed round, at which point Mr Basra disappeared into the night.
Neelam says that had her cousin not acted, she would have been killed.
Nearly four months on, Neelam is still recovering from injuries to her face, shoulder and legs….
The Movement for Solidarity and Peace in Pakistan calculates that every year up to 1,000 young Christian and Hindu women and girls aged between 12 and 25 are abducted by Muslim men.