Pakistan: Christian Schoolboy Beaten For Drinking Water From ‘Muslim Teacher’s Glass’
by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent
LAHORE, PAKISTAN (Worthy News) – A Christian schoolboy is recovering after he was beaten by his Muslim female teacher for drinking water from her glass at a school in Pakistan’s Punjab province, Christians told Worthy News.
In a video shared with Worthy News, the five-year-old child and his father recounted last week’s incident in Chak No.5 village in Punjab’s Mianwali District.
The boy and his father said he was “scolded, slapped, and verbally abused.”
The teacher reportedly used the slur “Issai Chura”, a derogatory term used to demean Christians in parts of Pakistan.
Pakistani Christians who saw the video said it was part of “a disturbing rise in religious hatred and anti-Christian sentiment across the country.”
Pastor Imran Amanat, head of Christian advocacy group LEAD Ministries Pakistan, told Worthy News: “This child did nothing wrong. He was thirsty, like any human being in this extreme heat. But he was punished simply for being a Christian.”
With temperatures soaring in many parts of Pakistan, the denial of water over someone’s faith amounts to the denial of “a basic human right,” Christians told Worthy News.
MORE CASES
Pastor Amanat said, “We are witnessing more cases like this where Christians are not allowed to drink from public sources or share utensils with Muslims” across Pakistan, an Islamic nation.
LEAD Ministries Pakistan investigators noted “a troubling increase in cases of discrimination and abuse against Christians, particularly in schools, workplaces, and rural communities.”
Sardar Mushtaq Gill, founder of LEAD Ministries Pakistan and a human rights lawyer, told Worthy News that his group has urged action from authorities. “This is a clear example of religious hatred being taught and practiced in places that should be safe for all children. We ask Christian believers worldwide to pray for those suffering for their faith in Pakistan. We also call on the government to take firm legal action against those spreading intolerance.”
As the video of the schoolboy being denied water continues to gain attention, Christian leaders and activists have asked Pakistani authorities “to investigate the matter” and detain those responsible.
More details about the boy were not immediately released due to security concerns. “This is the second such incident” in recent weeks, Gill said. Earlier in the city of Rahim Yar Khan a “Christian sanitary worker drunk water [from a Muslim] and was beaten by Muslims. But later Muslims apologized during a heat wave in much of Pakistan.”
LEAD Ministries said Pakistan should reaffirm “the constitutional rights of all citizens,” including its roughly 4.5 million Christians who comprise less than 2 percent of the nation’s mainly Muslim population.
“We condemn this Christian-phobia that continues to grow in our society. The physical and emotional damage caused to Christian children and families is serious and must not be ignored,” Pastor Amanat added.
Pakistan ranks 8th on the annual World Watch List of 50 nations where advocacy group Open Doors says Christians face the most persecution for their faith in Christ.
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