Christian abducted and tortured for having spoken out against corruption by Muslim politician
Lahore (AsiaNews) - A Christian politician, Yousaf Naz, living in northern Punjab, was abducted, tortured and subjected to death threats on two occasions for having spoken out against the corruption of a Muslim public administrator. The incidents took place over the past months, but only recently did Yousaf turn to non-governmental organizations to make his story known. Raja Ifthikar Shahzad - this is the name of the Muslim politician - even tried to have Yousaf incriminated on charges of "blasphemy", but did not succeed since the population defended the Christian-faith man and exposed Raja's accusations as false.
Pakistan has a law, introduced in 1986, that carries a life-time prison term for those who offend the Koran and capital punishment for the defamation of Mohammad. This law continues to be used however to settle personal accounts. It was recently partially revised: vexacious accustions of blaphemy are now punishable by death. The new version of the law, however, still foresees capital punishment for those who defame Islam.
Yousaf Naz is a Christian convert from Hinduism and has been involved in politics since 1979, first as a village counsellor, today as a district counsellor of Pind Daadn Khan, near Rawalpindi (near the border with India). Last February, Yousaf put in a request for funding that had been slated for the Christian community but never released. It turned out that these funds had been used by the president of the District Council, the Muslim-faith Raja, with the support of local police. The news was made public, along with other cases of malfeasance on Raja's part.
Just two days after the release of the news, Yousaf was abducted by 4 armed men: he was beaten and his shop was destroyed. He reported the incident to local police but they did not act on his complaint.
In April, the local press gave a detailed report of various cases of corruption on Raja's part and the District Council condemned his doings, recognizing that Yousaf was in the right. Raja -- along with local religious extremists -- reacted by accusing Yousaf of blasphemy, but did not succeed in incriminating him because many people of the area sided with Yousaf. The Christian politician was once again abducted on May 26 together with his brother Sakeel Shehraz, taken 200 miles from their home and threatened with death in the presence of Raja. The two managed to escape and take refuge in the city of Jehlum: this at the cost of all their possessions. Again, Yousaf reported the incident to local authorities, without ever receiving a reply.
NGOs and religious freedom advocacy groups have appealed to President Musharaf to open an investigation on the Rawalpindi incidents and to ensure protection for Yousaf and his relatives. (LF)
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