A Christian girl in Pakistan was tortured and gang-raped by a group of Muslim men because she refused to convert to Islam, a horrific new report has revealed.
The British Pakistani Christian Association reported that the Muslim gang targeted girl's home, which was a mud house in a small village, knowing that her family adhered to Christianity, and threatened them with guns, sticks and metal poles.
The gang told the family to convert to Islam or die. However, the family refused and said they would not renounce their faith. In turn, the men tied up and blindfolded all but two of the family members - 20-year-old Arif and 17-year-old Jameela.
After taking the siblings to an unknown building, the men tortured Arif and then raped his sister in a separate room, forcing him to listen. While Arif managed to escape the next morning and return to his family, who had escaped their shackles, Jameela remains missing.
BPCA notes that police have refused to investigate the case, and the Christian charity is currently helping the deeply traumatized family.
"We will now begin the arduous task of helping them rebuild their lives in an atmosphere of safety," said Wilson Chowdhry, chairman of the BPCA. "However, the captured daughter Jameela may well never be found and her malicious kidnap is causing great anguish and despair."
He added, "That Muslim despots can kidnap Christian girls with such impunity is a blight on Pakistan's international reputation."
Pakistan, the world's second largest Muslim country, is ranked #6 on the Open Doors 2016 World Watch List of the worst persecutors of Christians, and has received the maximum score in the violence category. The UN claims that some 4,000 Pakistani Christians have fled due to ongoing persecution; the real number is thought to be about 10,000.
In September, a mob of drunken Muslims stormed the homes of Christians in Pakistan, beating men, women and children they deemed to be "ritually impure" and insulting the name of Jesus Christ.
In August, Muslim extremists in the region threatened to burn alive members of a Christian family and abduct and kill young Christian girls in the area after a Muslim woman eloped with a Christian man.
In June, a pastor was brutally attacked and beaten by police after a Muslim man complained the church service was too loud. The congregation became very upset and Christians later staged a protest on Ferozepur Road and blocked traffic.
In light of such rampant persecution, The Right Rev. Dr. Russell Barr, moderator of the Church of Scotland, in September penned a letter to UK foreign secretary Boris Johnson, asking him to put pressure on Pakistani authorities to stop the abuse.
"Forcible conversion to any religion is a crime, even under Pakistani law," Barr told Johnson in his letter.
"My fear is that if pressure is not brought to bear on the Pakistan government the problem will continue to grow and people will continue to commit such crimes with impunity without any fear of punishment.
"I therefore request that you raise this matter with the Government of Pakistan, asking them to stop this persecution, bring the perpetrators to justice and introduce new legislation as suggested by the Senate committee."
