A jealous Muslim love rival indiscriminately fired gunshots in the home of a loving Christian family instantly killing a 17 year old son.
The tragedy occurred on 27th February, in the town of Qayum in FaisalabadCity under the strangest circumstances. Tahir Qadeer (48 years) and his wife Shazia
Tahir (42 years), a Christian couple, were allegedly returning back home from an innocuous visit to their local doctor. Whilst walking the two of them
had a small argument which was noticed by Tahir Jutt (57 Years), with a known long term infatuation for Shazia. The argument was not violent but involved
some shouting but even then Mr Jutt interrupted the couple and started to shout abuse at Mr Qadeer . Shazia immediately reacted and said:
“He is my husband, please leave us alone I do not need you to defend me.”
Apparently this only made Mr Jutt more angry and he shouted more expletives at Tahir Qadeer. Mr Qadeer responded by saying: “Who are you to speak into our argument?”To
which Mr Jutt replied: “I will show you who I am, you dirty Chura (derogatory term used for Christians meaning
low life cleaner) don’t speak back at me” as he stormed off.
The unexpecting family returned home and sat down to have a meal unaware that Mr Jutt had more sinister plans for them. A few moments later Mr Jutt arrived
at there home and started shooting at the family members killing their young son Noel Tahir (17 years) immediately. Akash Tahir (25 years) was shot in
the arm and his wife was also injured. Both Tahir Qadeer and wife Shazia were wounded in the attack.
When police officers showed their usual insouciance towards a crime reported by Christians, even though this was a cast iron murder case, the family were
required to hire a Muslim to have a First Information Report (FIR) registered against the assailant Mr Jutt who was arrested. A murder crime was registered
under section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code. However in a return of the usual police and judicial system apathy towards Christians Mr Jutt was set free
on 3rd March 2016.
Since his release Mr Jutt has started to terrorise the family and has threatened violence and rape on the girls in the family. The family are terrified
that he will re-enact violence upon them, but still want justice for their son Noel.
Mr Qadeer, asked for help from the BPCA, he said:
“This man [Mr Jutt] has destroyed our lives, he has murdered my son and now I can’t bear to live. He has always desired my wife and has hated me because of my marriage to her, but I never thought he could be this evil. I have cried every day, my wife is inconsolable and few people have offered help despite the terror we face every day. I pray God will help us save the rest of our family and that He punishes this evil man.”
Naveed Aziz, our Lahore based officer, said:
“This family are in desperate need for help, the perpetrator of violence has shown no remorse for the violence he meted out on this poor family and has increased their tension by stating he will repeat the violence if they dare to challenge him through the courts. Local Police are being extremely slow and sluggish with this case allowing Mr Jutt to exhort great pressure on the family who have already had to suffer the surprising ignominy of the murderer of their son being set free on bail.”
Wilson Chowdhry, Chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association, said:
“This terrified family have suffered extreme violence resulting in the death of their youngest member. Sadly the justice system has failed to retain a murderer in prison whilst the extremely laboured court process winds on. There is little hope of justice for this family but they should be allowed their day in court. We will provide whatever assistance we can and hope to move them to a safe location with the help of our donors. In the meanwhile we ask Christians across the globe to pray for this family’s protection.”
The BPCA has paid the costs for the funeral of Noel and would like to help this family by providing a temporary safe shelter at the cost of £200 per month,
we also seek the finance for the legal counsel for this family initial costs are around £400.
If you would like to contribute towards our ongoing work for this family our bank details and paypal/visa payment facility can be found here: (click here). Please use Ref: Love for Noel.
