Christians in Pakistan Shaken By Killings and Exploitation

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent, Worthy News

ISLAMABAD/FAISALABAD, PAKISTAN (Worthy News) – Christians in Pakistan tell Worthy News they are reeling after two shocking incidents — the murder of three believers in Islamabad and the forced removal of a kidney from a Christian laborer in Faisalabad — which advocacy group LEAD Ministries Pakistan says highlight systemic abuse of religious minorities.

LEAD said the decomposed bodies of Akraam Paul, 60, his 20-year-old son Shabeel, and 22-year-old daughter Nibha were discovered earlier this month in their home in the Ramsha Colony area of the capital. Neighbors raised the alarm after a foul smell spread in the neighborhood.

“The bodies were found with their hands and feet bound. They were tortured to death,” said Mushtaq Sardar Gill, a Christian lawyer and founder of LEAD Ministries Pakistan. He added that the killings underscored a climate of fear for Christian families in the country. No suspects had been detained by Sunday.

“We call upon the concerned authorities and law enforcement agencies to conduct a transparent and fair investigation and ensure that the perpetrators are swiftly brought to justice. No community should live in fear because of their faith,” Gill told Worthy News.

In a separate case in the city of Samundri in Faisalabad District, daily wage worker Tanvir Masih, a Christian father of four daughters, was allegedly deceived into surgery this month and returned home to learn a kidney had been removed without his consent.

Masih had reportedly turned to his Muslim employer for help with stomach pain. He was then referred to Dr. Muhammad Sadiq Khurshid, a local landowner and physician, who arranged for him to travel to Peshawar for what Masih believed were routine medical tests, Christians said. After surgery, another doctor later told him one kidney had been removed, according to investigators.

“This heartbreaking incident reveals the deep vulnerabilities minorities face in Pakistan,” said Pastor Imran Amanat of LEAD Ministries Pakistan, urging international attention. Gill condemned the case as a “grave human rights violation” and said it reflects the exploitation of Christian laborers and minorities in rural Pakistan, where justice is often denied.

GOVERNMENT PRESSURED

The group urged the Punjab government, other authorities, and international human rights bodies to investigate both cases.

Gill warned that Christian laborers, among the poorest and most marginalized, are especially vulnerable to such abuse, and accountability remains rare.

That observation highlighted broader concerns about Christians in Pakistan, who comprise about 1.6 to 2 percent of the nation’s roughly 240 million people, most of them concentrated in Punjab province. Many work as sanitation workers, domestic helpers, or bonded brick-kiln laborers, Worthy News documented.

Rights groups, including the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, have observed that Christians rarely own land and often face discrimination in housing, jobs, and access to justice.

Human rights organizations have also reported that in emergencies such as floods or earthquakes, Christians and Hindus are sometimes the last to receive aid.

The recent murders and the exploitation case, advocates say, are part of a larger pattern of systemic discrimination and abuse. “This is not merely unethical medical practice; it is a brutal infringement on basic human rights,” Gill said. “It reflects the exploitation faced by Christian laborers and minorities in rural Pakistan, where justice is often denied.”

LEAD Ministries Pakistan asked Christians worldwide to pray for the grieving family in Islamabad and for justice for Tanvir Masih.

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