Two Christian men were shot in the head and one was attacked with an axe on 2 February, during a church building construction dispute between the Masih family and some Muslim neighbours, in Sahiwal, Punjab province.
The Muslim attackers shot both Azeem and Sajjad in the head, and injured Razaq with an axe. All three men were admitted to the Civil Hospital Sahiwal, where Azeem was put into intensive care.
Azeem was released from the hospital three weeks later, on 24 February. His younger brother stated, “He is unable to communicate and is paralysed from the right shoulder down. One of my cousins is recovering from the wound of a bullet that slightly hit his skull. My uncle was also injured with an axe.”
The Masih family wanted to provide a building for the local Christian community, numbering at least 120 in the Muslim-majority area. “There is no church in our village. We gather in the house of a local pastor for weekly prayers. We wanted to facilitate the women and elderly who couldn’t travel each Sunday to the nearby city,” they said.
Christians are often met with opposition when building churches in certain parts of Pakistan, especially rural areas. Local Muslims in Muzaffarabad stole building materials and cut off Christians’ water supply to halt the construction of a church, despite permission granted by local authorities.
