by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) - Screaming that no Christian in the area should be left alive, Islamic gunmen in Punjab Province, Pakistan, murdered a 14-year-old Christian boy during an attack in a marketplace on Feb. 5, Morning News (MSN) reports.
Eighth-grade student Sunil Masih was with other Christians in Gujranwala District, Punjab Province, on Monday evening when six Islamic men, four of whom were known to his group by name, arrived on motorcycles and opened fire on them, MSN reports.
“We were talking to each other when suddenly Zaman Butt and his accomplices Anas Yaseen, Adil Abdul Rehman, Ashraf Inayat Ullah, and two unidentified men came there on motorcycles,” Sunil’s uncle, Mehboob Gill, stated in a report to Gujranwala Cantt Police Station. “Adil shouted that no Christian in the area should be left alive, after which Zaman opened fire on Sunil with his pistol, hitting him in the chest.” The murderers shot at another Christian boy named Jamshed, but the bullet grazed him, Gill said. Sunil succumbed to his wounds in hospital. The murderers escaped and have not been captured.
Monday’s attack constitutes the second murder of a Christian youth in Punjab province in three months. On Nov. 9, Farhan Ul Qamar, a 20-year-old Christian medical technician student, was shot dead by a Muslim who broke into his home in Sialkot District, Punjab Province, and held his family hostage.
In a statement to MSN, Rev. Numan Matto of the Gondalanwala Presbyterian Church said Monday’s attack was religiously motivated. “In May 2023, some Muslim youths disrupted a marriage ceremony of Christians and also attacked a church," Matto said. “However, police and the district administration did not take any action against the influential accused, despite several protests by the Christian community.”
“If the police had taken stern action against the accused involved in the attack on the church last year, our young child would not have died at the hands of these criminals,” Matto asserted. “Sunil’s murderers are at large, and the audacity of their attack shows that they will not hesitate to strike again. The police will be responsible for any more loss of life of Christians if they do not take adequate security measures.”
Pakistan ranks 7th on the US Open Doors World Watch List 2024 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.