Monday, August 16, 2010

Rapes of Christian Girls Now Common in Pakistan; 12-and 16-Year-Old Girls Victims of Trend

The Compass Direct website reports today (August 16, 2010) that the vulnerability of Christian girls to sexual assault in Pakistani society emerged again last month, as a Muslim landowner targeted a 16-year-old girl and a gang of madrassa (Islamic school) students raped a 12-year-old girl in Punjab Province.

In Farooqabad, three Muslim co-workers of a Christian man allegedly raped his 16-year-old daughter at gunpoint the night of July 21; the following evening in Gujar Khan, more than a half-dozen madrassa students decided to "teach these Christians a lesson" by allegedly gang-raping the 12-year-old girl.

Pastor Shakeel Javed of the United Pentecostal Church -- the church to which the 12-year-old girl's family belongs -- said the Muslims "openly announce that 'the Christians are our enemies, we should not talk to them, eat with them, or do business with them.'"

The students often beat Christian children who come to play on the school grounds, telling them to convert or leave, he said, adding that on Sundays they throw stones at the church building.

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