Pakistan: Elderly Christian Man Accused of Blasphemy Dies from Wounds Inflicted by Islamic Mob
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – A 74-year-old Christian man in Punjab Province, Pakistan, has succumbed to the injuries he sustained during a May 25 attack by a mob of Muslims who falsely believed he had desecrated the Quran, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. Nazir Gill, a resident of the predominantly Christian community in Sargodha, suffered severe head trauma and died at a military hospital near Islamabad on Monday.
As Worthy News reported last month, Nazir was reportedly attacked when, jealous of the success of his shoe factory business, area Muslims Ayub Gondal and Muhammad Ikraam falsely spread the word that he had burned the Quran, inciting a mob to rage.
Pakistan has harsh anti-blasphemy laws that are frequently abused to attack non-Islamic minorities, especially Christians. Those who are perceived to speak against Islam or its prophet, Muhammad or the Quran, are vulnerable to violent assault, imprisonment, and death.
“Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy laws are often used to target minority groups, but Christians are disproportionately affected,” the Open Doors international Christian advocacy organization reports in a website statement.
“Indeed, roughly a quarter of all blasphemy accusations target Christians, who only make up 1.8% of the population,” Open Doors says.
Concerning Nazir, an ICC staffer in Pakistan reported: “He was a well-known, respectable, and industrious person in his area.He was running a small shoe-making factory and cosmetic shop. His family is a well-to-do family.”
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