{"id":137,"date":"2019-12-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.britishasianchristians.org\/full-previous-archive\/2019\/12\/20\/they-forced-me-down-all-i-did-was-pray-the-story-of-a-pakistani-christian-rape-survivor\/"},"modified":"2023-04-30T05:24:12","modified_gmt":"2023-04-30T04:24:12","slug":"they-forced-me-down-all-i-did-was-pray-the-story-of-a-pakistani-christian-rape-survivor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishasianchristians.org\/full-previous-archive\/they-forced-me-down-all-i-did-was-pray-the-story-of-a-pakistani-christian-rape-survivor\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThey Forced Me Down, All I Did Was Pray\u201d: the story of a Pakistani Christian rape survivor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Story written by Xari Jalil of VoicePK original can be found (here)<\/a><\/p>\n

LAHORE: It was four in the evening when 15 year old Maria Jalal, was alone at home, and she heard a knock at the door. Making her way to the front door, she assumed it must be her mother. But what happened next would change her life forever.<\/strong>
\n \n<\/p>\n

Outside 25 year old Muhammad Sajid, stood saying he had come to collect the family\u2019s dues.<\/p>\n

Sajid came every month for the monthly installment of Rs1500 \u2013 the repayment of a microfinance loan totaling Rs30,000.<\/p>\n

Nasreen Bibi, 48, a sweeper at the Municipal Co-operation and her electrician husband Jalal Masih, along with Maria\u2019s 19 year old brother Shahid struggle
\nto bring in enough wages to feed the family. Maria herself is uneducated and the youngest of the four children.<\/p>\n

In more ordinary circumstances, Sajid would arrive before 3 pm, as the family would be home. As fate would have it, or perhaps as pre-planned by him \u2013
\non 9th June 2019, he came around later than usual.<\/p>\n

Maria\u2019s mother, Nasreen Bibi (48), had to go to a funeral, and could not wait around for Sajid any longer. Leaving instructions with her young daughter,
\nshe left.<\/p>\n

Maria told Sajid to wait at the door while she went inside to bring him the money.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told him this but instead of waiting, he said to me that his officer needed to speak to him about something, and that I should come around to the street
\ncorner where he was standing,\u201d remembers Maria.<\/p>\n

In her naivete, Maria followed him outside at once. She had not gone far when she noticed that the streets were empty and no one else was around. Round
\nthe corner outside a white Suzuki Bolan van, stood four middle aged men. Before she knew what was happening, they grabbed her at gunpoint, dragged her
\ninto the van, with Sajid\u2019s hand tightly clamped over her mouth, muffling her frightened screams.
\n
Maria\u2019s eyes mist over as she remembers the scene.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did not keep time, but roughly after 15 minutes they stopped the car, and I was taken from the van into a building,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was a large and dark,
\ncarpeted room. I was still screaming and crying, and the more I did so, the more they slapped me to keep me silent. I instructed to obey them or be killed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maria says she did not recognize any of the men apart from Sajid. Then she refuses to speak anymore. Her eyes glaze over and she looks away.
\n
\n