LAHORE, Pakistan \u2014 Catholic bishops in Pakistan on March 10 condemned the \u201csuspicious death\u201d of a young Christian farmworker in northern Punjab and called for a transparent investigation into what the victim\u2019s family says was a murder disguised as suicide.<\/p>\n
In a joint statement, the Pakistan Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference (PCBC) and the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP), the Catholic Church\u2019s human rights body, asked for prayers for the family of Marqas Masih, 22, whose body was found hanging March 3 at a farmhouse owned by a Muslim landlord in a village in Sargodha District.<\/p>\n
\u201cMarks of torture were visible on the body of the deceased,\u201d said Bishop Samson Shukardin of Hyderabad, president of the PCBC and chairperson of the NCJP, along with Father Bernard Emmanuel, NCJP national director, and Naeem Yousaf Gill, executive director of the commission. <\/p>\n
The Church leaders urged authorities \u201cto bring the facts to light and ensure that justice is delivered to this vulnerable community.\u201d<\/p>\n
The statement followed a protest by Christian villagers who joined Masih\u2019s family March 4 in blocking a main road near their village, Chak 50, for about five hours. The demonstrators placed the victim\u2019s body on a bedstead as they demanded justice after local landlords reported the death as a suicide.<\/p>\n
Two Muslim brothers \u2014 Muhammad Mohsin and Muhammad Basharat \u2014 have since been detained at a local police station following the protest.<\/p>\n
According to Masih\u2019s brother, Dilshad Masih, the victim had taken an advance of 50,000 rupees (about $179) from the landlords in 2022. The family said it was not informed that the debt had continued to grow. By 2024, the amount had risen to 170,000 rupees and reached 270,000 rupees by 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cInitially we thought he had committed suicide because of financial stress,\u201d Dilshad Masih told EWTN News. \u201cWe discovered burn marks on his body only when we were preparing him for burial. His mouth had been burned internally by acid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dilshad accused the landlord of mistreating his brother and holding him under pressure over the debt.<\/p>\n
He said Marqas had returned home last November during his annual leave using the landlord\u2019s motorcycle. When Dilshad later went to return the vehicle, he was allegedly beaten, slapped with a shoe, and forced to sign a stamped paper regarding the loan.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnable to find a decent job and repay the loan, he went back to work for the landlords on a monthly salary of 15,000 rupees,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A copy of the postmortem report seen by EWTN News noted multiple abrasions on Masih\u2019s body, including a wound measuring 6 by 5 centimeters on his chest with peeling skin.<\/p>\n
Tahir Naveed Chaudhry, Masih\u2019s lawyer and a former parliamentarian, accompanied Dilshad Masih to a March 9 meeting with police officials.<\/p>\n
\u201cChristian farmworkers have been killed over simple issues such as bathing in a well owned by a Muslim farmer or accusations of minor theft,\u201d Chaudhry said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIncidents like this highlight the structural discrimination faced by many Christians who work as farm laborers under powerful landlords. When abuses occur, families often struggle to obtain justice because of fear, poverty, and social pressure,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Chaudhry also called for the withdrawal of what he described as \u201cfalse charges\u201d against 19 Christians accused of threatening police and staging an unauthorized protest during the March 4 demonstration.<\/p>\n
According to a police complaint, the protesters were charged with property damage, criminal intimidation, wrongful restraint, rioting, and unlawful assembly on a road leading to Lahore, the provincial capital. Authorities alleged that the demonstrators were armed with sticks and iron rods and caused traffic disruption.<\/p>\n
Under the Pakistan Penal Code, these offenses can carry prison sentences ranging from one month to seven years along with fines.<\/p>\n
Police officer Fazal Daad, who filed the case against the protesters, said it was unnecessary to create what he called a \u201cpublic nuisance\u201d over the incident.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe investigation is ongoing as the Punjab Forensic Science Agency examines the postmortem report. Signs of torture, if any, were not discernible after a day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Falbous Christopher, a minority lawmaker in the Punjab Assembly and chairman of its Standing Committee on Human Rights and Minority Affairs, submitted on March 10 a call-attention notice \u2014 a formal parliamentary request for ministerial response \u2014 regarding the police case against the Christian villagers.<\/p>\n
Christian leaders and rights activists have long urged stronger enforcement of labor protections in rural areas, citing repeated cases of violence against poor farmworkers.<\/p>\n
In 2024, three Christian farmers were attacked by Muslims in a separate incident reported by the NCJP. One of them, Suleman Masih, died from injuries after enduring threats, harassment, and the destruction of his crops. He was shot Dec. 29, 2024, and died three days later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LAHORE, Pakistan \u2014 Catholic bishops in Pakistan on March 10 condemned the \u201csuspicious death\u201d of a young Christian farmworker in northern Punjab and called for a transparent investigation into what the victim\u2019s family says was a murder disguised as suicide. In a joint statement, the Pakistan Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference (PCBC) and the National Commission for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":41222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"bron":[41],"class_list":["post-41221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nieuws","bron-cna"],"acf":[],"featured_image_urls":{"medium":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/41221-pakistani-bishops-demand-probe-into-death-of-christian-farmworker-300x186.jpg","large":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/41221-pakistani-bishops-demand-probe-into-death-of-christian-farmworker-1024x635.jpg","thumbnail":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/41221-pakistani-bishops-demand-probe-into-death-of-christian-farmworker-150x150.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/41221-pakistani-bishops-demand-probe-into-death-of-christian-farmworker-768x476.jpg","Inhoud breed":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/41221-pakistani-bishops-demand-probe-into-death-of-christian-farmworker-860x533.jpg","echo_preview_image":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/41221-pakistani-bishops-demand-probe-into-death-of-christian-farmworker-236x146.jpg"},"appp_media":null,"yoast_head":"\n