A 12-year-old domestic worker in Pakistan died last week as a result of injuries inflicted on her by her Muslim employer – a wealthy lawyer.
The girl, from a Christian family, worked in the household of Chaudhry Muhammad Naeem, former president of the Lahore Bar Association, where she was subjected to physical, psychological and sexual abuse.
Shazia Bashir’s death has outraged the Christian community, which is calling for justice.
Sohail Johnson pictured with the dead girl
According to this report, the authorities are now trying to appease outraged Christians, and have pledged that justice will be done. Pakistani President Zardari has also promised to pay compensation to the family.
A Protestant NGO, Sharing Life Ministry Life (SLMP), reported that Shazia Bashir had been employed for the past eight months as a domestic worker by Naeem.
Local Christians say that during that period the girl was the victim of constant harassment, and that she was raped and tortured before she was killed.
SLMP chief coordinator Sohail Johnson said the girl worked under constant stress and experienced emotional and psychological trauma. She was also denied an agreed salary of 1,000 rupees ($12) a month.
Shazia “would get insults whenever she raised the subject of payment,” the Christian activist said.
He said that three days before her death, her employer tortured her. Afterwards, he tried to have her treated at his home without informing the parents of her condition. In the end, the medical care she did get proved inadequate and she was taken to Lahore’s Meo Hospital.
Said Razia Bibi, the girl’s 44-year-old uncle:
Shazia’s parents were not allowed to meet her. They did not know what she was going through.
Shazia died last Friday from her injuries.
Sohail Johnson said that her body showed signs of torture with at least 12 marks of injury.
Initially, Naeem’s family tried to pay off Shazia’s parents with 20,000 rupees ($250) to stop them from filing a case against them. Eventually they fled, but were arrested on Sunday.
Local Christians have expressed doubt about the impartiality and efficacy of the police investigation, but Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said that outside interference would not be tolerated and that justice would be done.
Sohail Johnson said that 99 per cent of Christian girls from poor families are hired by wealthy Muslims, and are often physically, psychologically and sexually abused.
In some cases, their employers marry them off to Muslim servants, and forcibly convert them to Islam. These vulnerable Christian girls do not have any state protection. We urge the government to ensure protection of these disadvantaged girls.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has promised 500,000 rupees ($6,000) in compensation to the girl’s family and urged the Punjab government to provide financial help as well. The money is expected to cover the cost of Shazia Bashir’s funeral.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
January 26th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
If that’s how a supposed pillar of their community behaves there’s no hope for the rest of them, is there?
I assume were it not for the protests it would all have been quietly swept under the carpet. Had Shazia survived I bet the medieval bastards would have found an excuse to stone her to death anyway. She was only twelve. Mind you, to those sub-humans she’d be almost past her sexual prime. Koranimals all of them.
January 26th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
Great system of laws and protections. Wonderful social structure. Stunningly healthy.
I think we should all convert and move there.
January 26th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
$250
$6,000
Someone should set up an appeal on justgiving and show these people a life is worth a lot more than this.
January 26th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
Good point Harry.
Pedigree pets cost more.
January 26th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
Absolutely disgusting behaviour by this pig of a man.
January 26th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
The next time wet, whingeing Western Christians bleat about being persecuted…
January 26th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
@Harry
…Someone should set up an appeal on justgiving and show these people a life is worth a lot more than this….
Of course, they know that some life is worth more than $250/$6000 than the others. Deriving from the rates in Saudi Arabia, had Shazia been:
— a Christian male $500/$12000
— a Muslim female $500/$12000
— a Muslim male $1000/$12000
And, less if she had been an idolater:
— a Hindu male $67/$/$1600
— a Hindu female $33/$800
Allah, the merciful, compassionate, and egalitarian! PBUH!
January 26th, 2010 at 5:53 pm
I know its hard to tell under the tents, but one of my islamic studies classes discussed why islamic women use tattoos or henna. One main reason is that it is illegal to rape an islamic girl but OK to rape or kill infidels. How do you tell if the naked girl is islamic??? By the tattoos, at least back in the ‘old medieval days’ because it was and still is, according to the buybull, against xtain & jewish rules to do tats.
AAAHHH Yes! Again we see the strong evidence for the PEACEFUL & LOVING islamics.
Moderates don’t like these opinions of their faith??? Then start punishing your extremists for the MURDERERS that they are!!!
January 26th, 2010 at 6:54 pm
Why do these ‘men’ never attack other men but only women? Surely they are not cowardly, spineless scum?
January 26th, 2010 at 7:37 pm
All I can think of is a streak of cuss words.
Six grand. That’s all she’s worth. That’s just pitiful.
I just hope other families will hear this and refuse to let their daughters work for Muslims.
January 26th, 2010 at 7:39 pm
So let’s see…Islam has their women all covered up to keep the men from going crazy and raping them at any given moment…some Islamic women get tattoos so they won’t look “rapeable” to Mulim men…and now this.
Maybe Muslim men are just so much worse than other men that they should all be taken out and shot. I mean, you don’t have to wear a tent in America just to keep most men from attacking you and raping you…but of course, we’re not in the habit of blaming the victim for the rape.
January 26th, 2010 at 9:48 pm
Barry, you seem like a pretty decent guy in the flesh. Doesn’t the raging xenophobia in the comments distress you at all? I mean, this is a standard story of wealthy man abusing poor girl. It happens all over the world, but here it seems to be a prompt for people to spout venom against the evil jews… I mean muslims – sorry, who is it we’re hating today?
January 26th, 2010 at 10:50 pm
Is the returning troll too subhuman evil to grasp that the outrage about this story is not that the worst thing that is likely to happen to a particular rapist is that he might be fined, but that moslem societies do not treat the rape of a non-moslem child as a worse crime than spitting on the sidewalk? The religion of the involved parties IS the issue, and a troll who pretends not to see that is an unmitigated liar AS WELL AS a certifiable psychopath.
Is this the same evangelist Tom Rees who wrote a defense of Christian fairy tales that even other Jesusites consider an embarrassment to their cause? Either way, he is further proof that the braindead should get themselves buried asap.
January 27th, 2010 at 12:53 am
As many in the atheist community find themselves pointing their fingers in the direction of the most recent religious attrocity, and understandably so, let us not forget that stupidity of man exists in own back yard.
Don’t forget the bombing of abortion clinics, and the assinations of abortion doctors. Let’s not forget about Timothy McVeigh, Marshall Applewhite, Charles Manson, Jim Jones, David Karesh, and let’s not even underestimate Fred Phelps.
In the Iraq war, Iraqis killed more of each other that they did allied troops. Kill a prominent citizen, then bomb his funeral. Kill some partiers, then kill the first responders. A chilling, heartless mindset. Much like burning freethinkers and midwives in the Salem witch trials. The body count continues getting higher, but, the pattern is the same.
Religion and superstition are the enemy of civilization.
NeoWolfe
January 27th, 2010 at 2:06 am
Hey Tom how about reading the actual article instead of going off half cocked accusing people of xenophobia? If you did read the article before making your comment, and still can’t grasp what the fuss is about, then you might want to consider that you have a slightly blinkered view that’s colouring your judgements and causing you to miss the point entirely.
Or as William said perhaps you are just a troll…
January 27th, 2010 at 8:38 am
Hi, thanks for your comments everyone. Unfortunately you lack a cross cultural context – which, no doubt, helps explain the xenophobia. If you study the status of girls and women in pre-modern societies, you will find that they tend have status that ranges from low to very low. This is not a unique feature of Islam.
For a real eye-opener, you could start reading the old Anglo-Saxon law-codes!
Meanwhile, it is clear that in modernised Islamic societies women have a higher status – although there is still some way to go (the same could also be said of many Christian countries, of course).
In other words, you are generalising from a specific example to create a hostile stereotype to apply to an entire group – a classic example of herd-like xenophobia.
And no, I am not a troll. I am a passionate atheist who detests ignorant bigots of all stripes.
January 27th, 2010 at 8:59 am
Tom, yes, I get it, but you’re wrong.
Anglo-Saxon law codes were probably harsh by modern standards, but so what? Islamic culture has had plenty of time to get with the program. Ignorance of basic human rights is certainly no defence here. You’re not saying that it’s okay for a nation that’s signed up to the UN Convention on Human Rights to conduct itself in this way because ‘it’s their culture’? That one never flies, not should it. UNCHR is for the human race, cultures be damned.
If – as you assert – Muslim nations are making progress, it’s not especially obvious to this observer. Indeed, in many Islamic countries the status of women is being undermined by the fundamentalists. I sympathise with your viewpoint on some of the strong language here, but it is born of genuine moral outrage.
January 27th, 2010 at 10:30 am
If our ancestors had been more tolerant of this kind of thing in our own culture we’d still have it in our culture.
January 27th, 2010 at 11:02 am
Hi Tom well I’m glad you aren’t trolling, we get enough of those here. I can only speak for myself when I say I don’t really care to comment on the cross cultural context. I make my comments based on the article at hand, and if you are saying that it’s not just Islam that treats women poorly then I agree with you.
Religion seems to be used as justification for treating women poorly in many cultures, which I suppose is womens own fault for allowing the rise of the Patriarchal culture. I don’t think you can say this is not about religion and is just a class or gender thing though, I think perhaps it is more a mix of all three.
As for myself, I have my own beliefs and I am tolerant and open minded about others with one stipulation, and that is that they do not use their beliefs to harm others. As soon as someone uses their beliefs to justify harming another human being, be it physically mentally or emotionally, then they waive their rights to be treated with courtesy and respect by myself, call it bigotry if you like that’s your call not mine.
January 27th, 2010 at 11:39 am
@Tom Rees: here is my reply to your statement “Meanwhile, it is clear that in modernised Islamic societies women have a higher status”
http://equal-rights-now.com/In.....mp;lang=en
You may not regard Iran as a “modernised Islamic society”, but I daresay most male Iranians do.
January 27th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
So Tom Rees is not the televangelist. But he IS the same kind of embarrassment to the philosophy he purports to espouse. With friends like that, who needs enemies?
January 28th, 2010 at 1:36 am
I understand, particularly since 911 the malice felt toward the goat herder mentality of the the middle eastern muslims. What I did not hear is a rebuttal to my comparison to the homegrown fanatics we share our country with, nor any explanation of how they, from a freethinker point of view, are any more excusable or forgivable.
And let me add, that as a huge fundamentalist demonstration gathered to save Terry Schiavo, prompting Congress to order the federal supreme court to review a case over which they had no jurisdiction, the question becomes how many idiot voters we have among us. So many at least that politicians are more scared of the idiots than they are of the freethinkers. To what conclusion? Some people are too fucking stupid to have a voice? I think yes, but it goes against all the founding fathers established, or does it? No, at the origin of this country only male land owners had a vote. Hmmmm.
We keep dancing around which human institution is less flawed, but the truth is that they all are. Human history proves that every empire ever established has decayed and disappeared. So the only relevent question is, can freethinkers ever cure the idiots?
NeoWolfe
January 28th, 2010 at 6:34 am
A common garden cunt, regardless of religion. Kill it!
February 11th, 2010 at 5:28 pm
This is disgusting to any muslim, I will have you all know. Please don’t blame religion every time some non practicing so called muslim hurts someone. You need to understand that good muslims would never do this because of their fear of Allah and it has been written to not do these things. This man was obviously out of his mind. The worst thing that people can do is blame a religion because that in it’s self is ignorant. Try reading the whole Koran front to back before you judge a religion. Most people are quick to stereotype and this is contagious. Try to see the goodness in muslims by learning what those good virtues are. Muslim women cover themselves not so men won’t rape them, that is a misconception. Muslim women cover themselves because God commanded them to be modest and cover their bosoms. They cover their hair because a women’s hair is half her beauty. If you had a precious diamond worth millions would you wear it around your neck and display it for all to see. Muslim women are respected and protected. Please educate your selves about Islam because it will make you seem smart even if you don’t want to be one understand one. It could really open your eyes. I pray Allah (God) opens your hearts and lets you see the beauty of Islam. Inchallah!