Christian man dies from injuries sustained in mob attack over Quran-burning allegation
An elderly Pakistani Christian man has died about a week after a mob incited by a Muslim cleric burned down his shoemaking factory over allegations he desecrated a copy of the Quran.
Lazar (Nazir) Masih, who was in his early 70s, died Monday morning in a military hospital in Rawalpindi, Punjab province, according to Christian persecution watchdog organizations.
Masih’s body was transported to Mujahid Colony and his funeral was held on Monday and attended by many, reports the United Kingdom-based Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement.
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Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a nonprofit that monitors human rights abuses in several countries, notes that Masih was placed on a ventilator Sunday and died in the early hours of Monday amid multiple organ failures. During a burial in his hometown of Sargodha, police assured protection for Masih’s family.
“Today every single Pakistani should be weighed by grief, not only for the atrocities in a foreign land but right here. Yet again, hate has brought us to the place where we must ask questions,” Church of Pakistan President Bishop Asad Marshall wrote in an X post.
“The question is not ‘Where will this stop?’ because beyond the devastation of homes and lives, beyond the brutal killing of a hard working man, beyond the devastation of a community and the grief of a family, we have already come too far! The question is when will those who make change and those who pursue justice, seek truth and cry for a more just and fair world, when will those lives rise up for the sake of Pakistan’s own.”
Civil rights advocates say that Masih’s death is another example of the dangers related to Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, which they say can embolden radical Muslim mobs to take the justice system into their own hands.
"I am deeply saddened and outraged by the tragic death of Nazir Masih, who was brutally attacked and killed over false blasphemy charges,” CLAAS-UK Director Nasir Saeed said in a statement shared with The Christian Post.
“This barbaric act highlights the severe consequences of the misuse of blasphemy laws in our country and serves as a stark reminder of the urgent need for reform in Pakistan's blasphemy laws. As a human rights activist, I am profoundly distressed by this senseless loss of life and the violence that preceded it."
CSW Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said Masih’s life was “cruelly taken by extremists who have been emboldened by Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws and the culture of impunity that surrounds those who take these laws into their own hands.”
“We condemn this egregious act of violence and emphasize that Mr. Masih would likely still be alive had the police intervened sooner and more effectively,” Thomas said in a statement. “We call on the authorities in Sargodha to uphold the rule of law, and to ensure that all those responsible for his death are brought to justice. We also continue to call on Pakistan to repeal its blasphemy laws, which are wholly incompatible with the country’s national and international commitments to freedom of religion or belief.”
On May 25, Muslims in Sargodha accused Masih of burning pages of the Quran, which incited a mob of hundreds to attack Masih’s home and shoe factory. Under Pakistan’s penal code, burning pages of the Quran is punishable by life in prison.
Social media footage circulated depicting chaos as teenagers destroyed furniture.
The mob beat Masih with steel rods and threw bricks and stones at him before police intervened, CSW reports.
Police efforts to rescue Masih were met with resistance, and the mob tried to snatch him from police custody, which led to even more injuries after he was placed in the ambulance, according to CLAAS-UK.
He was hospitalized in critical condition at the Combined Military Hospital with multiple head injuries.
Masih's brother told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News that his brother was burning wastepaper in the street outside his home. While his brother was inside, someone threw a copy of the Quran into the fire, which led a neighbor to accuse him of blasphemy and enraged local Muslim clerics. Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper, citing Minority Rights March, reported that the attack took place “on the instigation of a local cleric.”
Pakistan, a Muslim-majority country, is ranked as the seventh worst country when it comes to Christian persecution on the Open Doors 2024 World Watch List. Open Doors reports that roughly a quarter of all blasphemy accusations in Pakistan target Christians, who only make up 1.8% of the population.
Masih’s death follows the killing of Shahid Masih on May 8 in the Bhikkhi area of Sheikhupura District of Punjab province. The poor Catholic worker was beaten by his Muslim employer after being accused of stealing goats. Masih’s widow has faced pressure to drop her quest to hold his killers accountable.
“My husband kept pleading his innocence, but they dragged him to their outhouse where they tied him up and continued to torture him,” his widow, Sonia Shahid, told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “They broke his teeth and fingers and then poured a bottle of acid into his mouth. When I tried to stop them, they beat me as well as our children who had followed me there.”
