Christian woman gang-raped by Muslims men in Pakistan, finds little help from authorities
A Christian woman was brutally raped by two Muslims who broke into her house in Toba Tak Singh district in Pakistan.
Thirty-year-old Asia Mushtaq said she was sleeping with her daughter when she was awakened by two men holding a gun to her face. Her husband, a soldier who was often away from home, was not there to protect her that night, something that her attackers were apparently aware of.
Mushtaq screamed for help but nobody came to her aid. The men threatened to kill her and her two-year-old daughter if she did not comply with their demands. The men beat her and tied her hands and feet.
Out of fear for her daughter's life, and lacking the strength to resist, she stopped screaming when she realized no one would come to help her. The two men violently abused her for hours, and before they left they threatened to kill her if she told anybody.
"The men treated me like an animal, telling me I was a worthless Christian but I know my God is a great God. When I screamed they told me that they knew my husband was away and that I was unprotected," Mustaq told nonprofit organization British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA). "They said Christian women are all whores and that they would come back and repeat their debauchery if I ever told anyone."
Hoping for refuge from the law, Mushtaq went to the authorities the following day and reported the crime. BPCA confirmed that the case was indeed reported. Based on previous records, the two suspects, who were sons of wealthy businessmen, had been accused of raping other Christian girls but were never convicted.
Medical personnel who examined Mushtaq reported that there was no evidence of forced entry. Witnesses later revealed that the examiners were seen talking to suspects' family members, leading to the assumption that they could have been bribed.
Since the case was filed, Mushtaq and her family had been receiving threats to their life. Because the suspects' families were influential, even the Pakistani Army where Mushtaq's husband had served faithfully steered clear of the issue.
BCPA chairman Wilson Chowdhry condemned the rape against Mushtaq.
"Another woman finds herself a target of the whims of brutal Muslim rapists in Pakistan, in a society that targets its most vulnerable community – Christians," he said in a statement. "It pains me to say this, but the complex acts of betrayal leave me feeling that Christians have no place in Pakistan's theocratic society."
