by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) - A young Catholic father of four was murdered by his Islamist neighbors in Lahore, Pakistan last week after he objected to their harassment of Christians in the area, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.
Marshall Masih of the Patiala House area in Lahore was shot dead in his home on July 10, MSN reports. The sole breadwinner for his elderly parents, wife, and four children, 29-year-old Marshall was murdered by
four armed Muslims led by Muhammad Shani and Azam Ali who broke into his house through the roof at around 4 am.
“The assailants broke the door of my brother’s bedroom on the first floor of the house and held him and his family hostage [at] gunpoint,” Marshall’s sister Goshi Yaqoob told MSN. “They then opened indiscriminate fire on him, riddling his body with 16 bullets in the presence of his wife and minor children,” said Goshi, who was in the home visiting her parents at the time. “I was horrified to see his blood-soaked body lying on the floor while his wife and children were huddled in a corner crying frantically,” Goshi told MSN in tears.
The murderers attacked Marshall after he filed a police complaint against them, in an effort to stop them from their practice of firing guns in the air and otherwise harassing Christian women, Goshi told MSN. “Though the police arrested Shani and recovered illegal weapons from his possession, he was freed after a day without any case.
“Instead, the police pressured my brother to stop pursuing the matter. The Muslims were offended that a Christian had taken a stand against their criminal activities, and by killing him in cold blood, they have shown that our lives do not matter.”
Ruled by a harsh Islamic government, Pakistan ranks 7 on the Open Doors World Watch List 2024 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.