Christian women under terror grip in Pakistan

New York: A Muslim NGO called Movement for Solidarity and Peace has revealed that around 700 women are abducted, raped and forced into Islamic marriages every year.

In the most recently reported incident, three Christian girls in Pakistan, who rejected the advances of some wealthy Muslim young men, were mauled by them. One of the girls died.

Chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA) and human rights activist, Wilson Chowdhry, reported that the incident occurred on January 13 in Lahore. The three girls-aged 17, 18, and 20-were walking home. Four Muslim youths in a vehicle followed the girls and accosted them.

After the girls refused their advances and started to run in a fit of panic, the men rammed the car into them.

Two girls fell to the ground: one's hip was broken, the other's ribs were shattered. The youngest, Kiran Masih, aged 17, flew up in the air and crashed into the speeding car's windshield.

While hurling abuses, one of the men had said: "Christian girls are only meant for one thing, the [sexual] pleasure of Muslim men."

Chowdhry said, "As usual, Pakistani police are reportedly "doing little to apprehend the young men and are allegedly delaying the investigative process."

He said that violence against Christians is rarely investigated and highly unlikely to be met with justice. Women have a low status in Pakistan, but none more so than Christian women who find themselves under the grip or terror, especially after this attack.

Chowdhry added that accounts like this - including the claim that it is a Muslim man's right to rape Christians and other "infidels" - are common in Pakistan.

In another incident, a Muslim rapist, while attacking a 9-year-old Christian girl in Pakistan, had told her "not to worry because he had done the same service to other young Christian girls."

Locals discussing the man's remark, said: "It is shameful. Such incidents occur frequently. Christian girls are considered goods to be damaged at leisure. Abusing them is a right. According to the community's mentality it is not even a crime. Muslims regard them as spoils of war."

The Islamic concept of "spoils" (ghanima) is applied specifically to property acquired by force from non-Muslims. It includes, however, not only property (movable and immovable) but also persons, whether in the capacity of asra (prisoners of war) or sabi (women and children).

According to an article in Gatestone Institute, a think tank, even in Western nations, Muslims from Pakistan believe it is their right to rape and sexually abuse "infidel" women – or even Muslim women if they are out at night unaccompanied or not wearing a veil.

Today, as Muslims spread into the West, what they do to "infidel" women in their adopted countries is increasingly what they do to "infidel" women in their home countries, it says.