The family of Sharoon are being financially supported by the BPCA who have been covering the fathers wages as he takes time off work to challenge for justice for his son.
A Muslim high school student who murdered a Christian boy for drinking from a communal drinking fountain which held a de facto bar for usage by Christians,
was set free on bail after a botched and contrived police investigation. Read original story (click here)
BPCA earlier reported on the botched investigation (click here)
Sharoon Masih was only 17 years old when he was brutally murdered by his fellow pupils all of whom where Muslim. Although his attack was triggered
because he drank from a shared water facility which Muslim pupils believed meant that he had contaminated both the water’s purity and their own ritual
purity, they also envied his position as one of the most intelligent pupils in his school. In their minds both of these issues had helped Sharoon
Masih ‘rise above his station,’ so they all conspired to beat him to a pulp with ferocious punches and kicks, only stopping from the excitement
of their ‘holy rage’ when Sharoon stopped moving and breathing after succumbing to the ferocity of the attack and its longevity.
Sharoon Masih (RIP)
Ahmed Raza had always believed that Sharoon was a ‘filthy Christian’ and made sure Sharoon understood his animosity towards him by regularly bullying
him and taunting him with the label ‘Chura’ and ‘Bungeey’. two derogatory remarks meaning filthy cleaner.
These insults are derived from the fact that 86% of Christians work as domestic servants, sweepers and cleaners or are yoked under modern slavery contracts
within the brick kiln and carpet weaving industry. In some provinces of Pakistan only Christian applicants are allowed to apply for such roles in a
drive deemed to be positive discrimination (click here).
Sharoon’s father, Ilyasab Masih explained to Mehwish Bhatti BPCA lead officer that Sharoon was the only Christian in his class and that though many
of the children who initially witnessed the attack have retracted their statements in fear of reprisals and others simply because of a very unsavoury
act of Muslim community bias.
Smart, charming and handsome but Sharoon is sadly no longer with us.
On several occasions Ilyasab Masih has been offered bribes from the family of Ahmed which initially amounted to 2 million rupees (£12,816) and later
rose to 3 million rupees (£19,224). However Ilyas refused both offers. He said:
“My son was worth more then all the money in the world to me. He was a golden child who was excelling at school and one day he would have been a great
man till Ahmed and the other murderers took his life from him.
“Neither Ahmed nor any other boy has asked for forgiveness they have no remorse, if I had accepted this money I would have been reinforcing the pervading
view that Christians are worthless.
“I will not blemish my son’s memory nor sully my community’s reputation by accepting this blood money. Our Christ suffered humiliation and pain
but he suffered it with dignity. Muslims may bully us and kill us but they will never make us disgrace ourselves by selling our souls.
“Sharoon was a prayerful boy who volunteered at our church and who knew the Gospels very well, he was meant for more important things and God will
ensure that he receives that promise in heaven.
‘Sharoon deserves better then this bungled police investigation which has shocked us to our core and we will continue to pursue justice whatever happens.
One day these murderers will have to face God, at that point they will understand the weight of their sin.”
Sharoon killed for no worthwile reason in the prime of his life.
Prosecuting attorney Allah Dad Khan described a police failure within the initial First Information Report (FIR) and concerns within a post-mortem
report which included not describing visible wounds on Sharoon’s body, led to a successful application for bail for Ahmed on January 8th 2018, by decision-makers
on the Lahore High Court bench for Multan.
The FIR registered Multan police states that Sharoon’s father had witnessed the accused beating his son. This is not possible because Masih was not present
at the time of the attack, Mr Khan said.
“The defence will use this factual error for its benefit in the trial court,” Khan said.
The FIR states that in the course of Raza kicking and punching Sharoon, he hit him fatally in the abdomen, Khan said.
“However, the post-mortem report states that there were no torture marks on the deceased’s body, therefore the defence claim that Sharoon had not died
of the beating,” he said. “It’s quite clear that the police and the medical officer deliberately left errors in the FIR and the post-mortem report to benefit
the accused in the trial.”
By stating that the cause of Sharoon’s death was “uncertain,” the medical officer gave the court reason to give the accused benefit of the doubt, Khan
said.
“It’s the medical examiner’s responsibility to state the cause of death,” he said. “A human being has died, yet the medical report does not state the reason
of his death, which points to mala fide on the doctor’s part.”
The lawyer added that he had presented various media reports in court stating that the accused was trained in karate and had the ability to level fatal
blows.
The court rejected the arguments on grounds that media reports were not admissible.
Judge Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar ruled that the “post-mortem report of deceased Sharoon observes that there is no sign of physical injury or trauma
seen on the body of the deceased, meaning thereby there is clear contradiction between the ocular and medical account. At this stage it is hard to determine
that whether the death of the deceased occurred through any beat [sic] of the petitioner.”
The court then ordered Raza’s release on bail of 200,000 rupees (£1281).
A memorial book for Sharoon has a very short biography.
The family of Sharoon have asked us to help with a debt of £500 that has arisen as a consequence of them fighting for justice. If you wish to support Ilyasab and his family please click (here)
Wilson Chowdhry, Chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association, said:
“This case mirrors thousands of other similar cases of injustice against Christians, in so much as the system will fail beleaguered Christians once more.
“It is inevitable that the killer Ahemd Raza will be exonerated, his bail on such a high profile murder case is symptomatic of a system designed to undermine minorities and provide impunity to a Muslim persecutor. The decison to give bail is a fast-track to freedom in Pakistan and I hold little hope that he will be convicted.
“Here in the UK Darren O’sborne who attacked innocent Muslims whilst they prayed at a mosque has quite rightly been locked away for a long time
(click here), clearly there is no place for hatred on British shores.
“Quite conversely in Pakistan those who murder Christians or ‘alleged blasphemers’ are more often then not set free to continue their hatred on other victims, such as the acquittals for the murderers involved in the attack on the Christian community of Gojra in 2009 (click here)“.
“It is the perceived impunity for hate crimes, the inculcation of hatred through a national curriculum that satirises minorities (click here) and the ongoing uncurbed hate-preaching by the majority of mosques in Pakistan, have created an untenable situation for minorities in Pakistan.
“Christians are anathema in Pakistan and are increasingly being attacked and killed for their faith their future in Pakistan is questionable.”
Please sign our petition to eradicate bullying and persecution from Pak-schools (click here)
Morning Star News wrote an article about the policing failure that led to bail being permited to Sharoon Masih’s Killer Ahmed Raza. Originally the article quoted the father of Sharoon, Ilyasab Masih saying that no charity were helping Sharoon’s family (click here). However after further research they have amended their article to include the support BPCA have been providing since the death of Sharoon both financialy, morally, and spiritually.
BPCA have been praying with the family, leading protests and media campaigns, we paid for Sharoon’s funeral, we are paying for schooling for all Sharoon’s siblings, we are supporting the lost wages of the father with a donation of £100 per month and have even offered a solicitor but they had already been provided with one for free and have never paid for the service..
There are many unscrupulous charities that use the plight of this family for gain but our support has been genuine from the start. Our appeal for the family has only ever sought to cover the wages of Ilyasab and we have been faithful to that commitment. We would like to thank Morning Star for amending their article which now more accurately reflects our contribution to the beleagured family of Sharoon.