Family members of the kidnapped girl, photo via assistnews.net

Pakistani Christian female basic servant abducted

At least four unidentified men abducted a Christian girl while she was busy sweeping the premises of a school in Azad Town in Lahore on February 26, the Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan (SLMP) has reported, reports Sheraz Khurram Khan, special correspondent for ASSIST News Service in Pakistan.

The kidnapped girl, Samina, 22, was living with her family in a house on the premises of Pakistan Soul Saving Station Girls’ School. The men forcibly bundled the screaming girl into their car and disappeared.

Samina’s younger sister, Kiran, 16, a cleaner at the school, rushed to the scene to find out what was making her sister to cry out for help. She saw that two masked men dragging her sister into their vehicle. Kiran received kicks in her ribs as she attempted to uncover one of kidnapper’s face. The culprits later shut her in one of the school rooms.

Mr. Asghar, the owner of the school has blamed the kidnapping on a female Muslim teacher named Farah whom he fired some time back over meeting men during school time.

“As it is a girls’ school and the males are not allowed to come into the school premises. I asked Ms. Farah not to call any outsider male in the school. But she didn’t obey me and I terminated her from the school,” Sohail Johnson, coordinator of Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan, quoted the owner of the school as saying.

“Farah could be behind the kidnapping as she thought Samina’s family had a role in her dismissal,” Asghar told Johnson.

Johnson then alleged that officials at the local Kahananou Police Station attempted to avoid filing the abduction case. Finally, a case was filed under the “Women Protection Act” after Johnson threatened to stage a protest against the alleged apathetic attitude of the police.

ANS learnt that Mr. Mushtaq has been appointed as investigation officer. The police have called the two parties tomorrow to record their statements.

Azad town is a thickly-populated Christian town. Some 109 Christian families reside there, but the area also has a Muslim population.

Stringent measures need to be employed to stop incidents of rapes, kidnappings and domestic violence with Christian women, who are thought to be soft targets by the criminal-minded people. The women working in remote areas of the country are more prone to violence as compared to those working in the urban areas.

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[03/02/2008]

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