Pakistan: Brick Kiln Slave Family Beaten and Daughter Kidnapped for Failure to convert to Islam

Pakistan: Brick Kiln Slave Family Beaten and Daughter Kidnapped for Failure to convert to Islam

By Jeremy Reynalds, Senior Correspondent, ASSIST News Service (jeremyreynalds@gmail.com ) 

PAKISTAN (ANS-October 7, 2016) -- The British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA) has rescued a brick kiln family who had been severely beaten in Pakistan for refusing to convert to Islam.

Brick kiln workers are the equivalent of modern day slaves.

According to a release from the BPCA, a daughter who was kidnapped during the attack has not been returned.

The BPCA said that police are refusing to start an investigation, despite eyewitness accounts from many of the local Christians. They are fearful of similar incidents happening to them.

On Sept. 15 at 11:30 p.m. near the village of Samanyala near Kasur, BPCA said Fiaz Masih and his family were awakened by the noise coming from a group of people entering their home.

Their home is a mud house with no door, so forced entry is easy.

Fiaz, 54, and his wife Mumtaz, 50, have six daughters and two sons ranging in age from 14 to 31.

Six men and a woman from the area known to the family, armed with guns, sticks and metal poles began to beat them, telling them to convert to Islam or die.

Despite the pain and threats, the family refused to convert. BPCA said this infuriated the Muslim attackers even more.

All the family members were tied up and blindfolded, but two of th children, Arif, 20, and Jameela, 17, were forced into a van outside. They were taken to an unknown building and tortured, but Arif refused to convert to Islam.

BPCA said Arif could hear Jameela screaming. He was told by his captors that they were taking turns raping his sister and all he had to do to save her was convert to Islam, but he refused.

The next morning the captors left a door open. Arif was able to escape when his blindfold slipped down, and noone was watching him.

He loosened the ropes around his wrists, and walked out of what he described as a big mansion. Hiding in the shadows, he ran without looking back.

Telling the story of his kidnapping, he was able get home by hitchhiking and walking, although it took him several hours.

He could no longer hear his sister's screaming when he left, and believes she had been taken to another place.

He never looked back after he left the property, and can’t remember its location.

After the attack the family manage to free themselves from their ropes. They went to their slavemaster for help, who told them to contact the authorities.

Local police refused to investigate the allegation of violence, and Jameela is still missing.

However, the BPCA hired a lawyer and got an agreement that an initial investigation would take place before a case for a First Incident Report (FIR) could documented.

BPCA said it’s believed that an argument had built up over a few years after the family, who were the only Christians in the neighborhood, had continuously refused to convert to Islam.

Approaches had been made by many of the local Muslims intent on bringing this Christian family to Islam.

Offers of wedding their daughters to Muslim boys, monetary rewards and better status in the community fell on deaf ears. Fiaz and his family remained staunchly Christian.

However, a few days before the attack, BPCA said Mumtaz got very upset about the Muslim women trying to convert her to Islam.

In a heated argument she used insulting words against some of the women, which may have triggered the violent attack and last chance to convert.

Moreover, many local Muslim boys wanted to marry Jameela.

Forced conversions are condoned in rural Pakistan. A Muslim NGO releasing a report that estimates 700 Christian girls are kidnapped, raped and forced into Islamic marriage every year.

It is not known if the family’s slave master was party to the attack on their home. BPCA said he offered no assistance to the family and ordered them back to work the next day despite their injuries and traumatized emotional state.

Wilson Chowdhry, Chairman of the BPCA, said in the release, “This family is deeply traumatized but safe now. We will now begin the arduous task of helping them rebuild their lives in an atmosphere of safety. However, Jameela may well never be found, and this is causing great anguish and despair. That Muslim despots can kidnap Christian girls with such impunity is a blight on Pakistan's international reputation.”

For more information about the British Pakistani Christian Association visit www.britishpakistanichristians.org

Photo captions: 1) Husband and wife working in a Pakistan brick kiln factory, working under squalid conditions. 2) The family now lives in a BPCA safe house. (BPCA) 3) Young Pakistani boy working at a brick kiln factory. His brave smile belies the shocking conditions he is working under. (Kamila Hyat/IRIN).4) Jeremy and Elma Reynalds.

About the writer: Jeremy Reynalds, who was born in Bournemouth, UK, is Senior Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service, a freelance writer and also the founder and CEO of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter, www.joyjunction.org. He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in intercultural education from Biola University in Los Angeles. One of his more recent books is “From Destitute to Ph.D.” Additional details on the book are available at www.myhomelessjourney.com. His latest book is "Two Hearts One Vision." It is available at www.twoheartsonevisionthebook.com. Reynalds lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico with his wife, Elma. For more information, please contact Jeremy Reynalds at jeremyreynalds@gmail.com.

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