Death in Their Eyes: My Escape from False Blasphemy Charges
I was in the 8th grade at All Saints Church High School, preparing for my final exams, when my life was suddenly thrown into danger. During a small quarrel in class, my fellow student Muhammad Afzal falsely accused me of blasphemy the Islamic Literature, claiming I had trampled on its attributes. That single lie was enough to put my life at risk.
The very next morning, after the school assembly, I was summoned to the principal’s office. As I entered, I saw Muhammad Afzal, his father, and nearly thirty mullahs from surrounding villages — men who had arrived on bicycles with fury in their eyes, demanding vengeance. My principal and his younger brother with Christian school staff stood between me and them, refusing to hand me over to the Muslim mob.
The mullahs shouted that I should be delivered to them, but my principal was firm: “No, nothing like that happened. This is a personal dispute that your son has twisted into a religious issue.” His words and courage, along with his brother’s, saved me that day from men who carried death in their eyes and hatred in their hearts. Their accusations collapsed under the weight of truth, but the damage had already been done.
After that, my hometown was no longer safe for me. My family, fearing for my life, sent me away to CMS High School Narowal, where I stayed at the Batman Boys Hostel. There, I met a roommate Haroon Inayat, whose own brother, Ayub Masih, was facing a death sentence for blasphemy — a false charge like the one I had narrowly escaped. As our friendship grew, he shared the painful story of how his brother was trapped in a fabricated case, and together we carried the heavy burden of fear that every Christian child in Pakistan knows too well.
Every month, when Ayub Masih’s mother visited her younger son at the hostel, she wept bitterly, torn between the joy of seeing him and the agony of knowing her elder son awaited execution for a crime he did not commit. Her tears became a mirror of my own family’s anguish, and a reminder of the merciless reality faced by Christians in Pakistan.
I stood before the Muslim mullahs, and to me they appeared as hungry lions, just as Daniel once faced in the den. I can still feel the terror of that moment, when at any time they could have torn me apart. Yet the Lord Jesus Christ was my shield. If God had not moved through my teachers, I would not be alive today. And that was not the end. On June 20, 2013, when Muslims surrounded my house from every side, the Lord Jesus Christ stretched out His mighty hand and delivered me once again. I live today only by His mercy, and I will forever praise His Holy Name.
Echoes of Blood: Stories of Pakistan’s Draconian Blasphemy victims
Naimat Ahmar, Tahir Iqbal, Bantu Masih, Chand Barkat, Gull Masih, Salamat Masih, Rehmat Masih, Sarwar Masih, Anwar Masih, Habib Masih and that of Manzoor Masih lying dead before him must have flashed in his mind in quick succession.
Daniel Scott of Sahiwal (formerly Montgomery) belonged to a convert family with a Muslim background, residing in Lahore. He was a lecturer in mathematics at Government College, Okara, about eighty miles west of Lahore. Some of his Muslim colleagues and students, with an intention to terrorize him into leaving the college, accused him of committing blasphemy against the prophet of Islam, and tried to kill him in ferocious student riots. The incident took place in 1985, almost a year before the amendments of 295-B and 295-C were introduced in the Pakistan Penal Code (P.P.C.) in 1986 by the notorious Zia government. However, Daniel Scott escaped from the scene with the help of his liberal Muslim colleagues, and later had to flee for his life to Australia, leaving behind his family and landed property.
Emmanuel Luther of Lahore was a Christian journalist working for an Urdu daily. He was the author of a book on the prophet of Islam, evidently written in good faith. However, for some unintentional minor mistake in the book, he was accused of blasphemy, which developed into a riotous situation threatening his life in 1989. He had to seek asylum in a Western country to save his and his family members’ lives.
Naimat Ahmar, a Christian of Faisalabad (formerly Lyallpur), was headmaster of a secondary school of the Punjab government. He was a well-known poet and fiction writer in the Punjabi language. He was appointed headmaster of a high school in 1990 in a rural area away from Faisalabad city. Religion-conscious subordinates of Naimat Ahmar conspired with half-literate rural clergy to get rid of their kafir, or infidel, officer. So, very conveniently, he was alleged to have committed blasphemy and thus declared liable to be killed. Having sensed the imminent danger, he managed to get himself transferred to the District Education Office, Faisalabad. It is well known that Bishop John Joseph helped him secure the new posting. However, the Muslim bloodhounds on his chase managed to slaughter him in his new office in January 1992. A Muslim fanatic youth, a butcher by profession, killed him.
Tahir Iqbal of Sargodha, residing in Lahore, was a convert with a Muslim family background. He was an ex-employee of the Pakistan Air Force. Some spinal disorder had crippled the lower half of his body completely. He was accused of blasphemy due to his zeal for Christian witness and was imprisoned in Lahore Central Prison in 1990.
The Lahore High Court judiciary refused to bail him out in spite of his major disability. He was killed in the prison under mysterious circumstances in July 1992, presumably by mixing deadly poison in his food. The Christians failed even to get his dead body. He was buried without a Christian funeral ceremony, secretly, by the government authorities at a place only known to them.
Bantu Masih of Lahore Cantonment had a money dispute prolonged to such an extent that on the 4th of May 1992, all of a sudden, the Muslim party, in order to settle their personal score with Bantu Masih, accused him of having committed blasphemy in their presence. In the atmosphere of high religious fever, Bantu Masih was stabbed with deep wounds, and imprisoned in Lahore Prison, where he succumbed to his injuries and died in 1993.
Chand Barkat of Karachi was a Christian shopkeeper, operating a bangle stall in a bazaar. His Muslim neighbor, also a bangle stall holder, forced Chand Barkat to quit his stall in order to take over his business. He insisted that he would not quit because his livelihood depended on it.
The Muslim stall holder, in professional jealousy, alleged Chand Barkat to have committed blasphemy of the prophet before him. He was imprisoned in 1991 while his family lived under threats of death from the Muslims. He was acquitted, honorably, by a session judge of Karachi in 1993. However, the judge had to go on leave for some period due to threatening telephone calls from the Muslims, while Chand Barkat had to seek asylum in a Western country to save his life from the Muslims who were on the hunt for him.
Gull Masih of Sargodha had a petty personal dispute over a street water tap with his Muslim neighbor, a member of an Islamic religious party.
The Muslim gentleman, in order to teach this “kafir” or infidel a lesson, alleged that he had uttered blasphemous remarks against the prophet and his wives. Eventually, Gull Masih was imprisoned in Sargodha Prison in 1991. The sessions judge, under immense pressure from the Muslims, awarded him the death penalty, though not a single eyewitness substantiated the charge. Gull Masih’s appeal against the death sentence was pending in Lahore High Court at the time of the murder of Manzoor Masih. He was acquitted later on and lives in exile now.
Salamat Masih, Rehmat Masih, and Manzoor Masih of a remote rural area of Gujranwala were co-accused in the same blasphemy case. Salamat Masih was only twelve years of age at that time. The background of the case was that these persons refused to yield anymore to the subjugation of the Muslim landowners of the village. Thus they were marked “kafir” or infidel, charged with blasphemy, beaten severely, and imprisoned in Gujranwala in 1992. The pressure and interference of the local Muslims in sessions court proceedings was so terrible that the case had to be transferred to the Sessions Court Lahore. There were many attempts on the lives of these persons while the trial was in progress. Eventually, the assassins were successful in shooting Manzoor Masih dead and inflicting serious injuries on the other two and their friend, on the 5th of April 1994.
Sarwar Masih of Sanghar, in the province of Sindh, was accused of blasphemy following a personal dispute of trivial nature. He was arrested and imprisoned in Sanghar Prison in 1992. However, he was lucky to be acquitted of the charges and released in 1993.
Anwar Masih of Samundari, near Faisalabad, was a victim of personal vengeance and falsely charged with blasphemy. He was imprisoned in 1993. A plan of the Muslims to abduct him from police custody and kill him extrajudicially was also discovered, and was foiled in time. He was imprisoned for seven years and was released at its expiry of this sentence on the 23rd of April 1998.
Habib Masih of Shahkot, near Sheikhupura, was a practicing spiritual doctor. He fell victim to professional jealousy of his Muslim colleagues. They accused him of blasphemy out of a personal vendetta. He was arrested and imprisoned in Sheikhupura Prison in 1993. He is facing the blasphemy trial even now.
