Pakistan: No justice for Christian girl murdered by Muslim employer

 Shazia Bashir, 12, was allegedly killed by her Muslim employer, Chaudhry Muhammad Naeem, a wealthy lawyer, in Lahore, Pakistan, on January 22.

Naeem is a former president of the Lahore Bar Association. Shazia had been working for 8 months as a domestic (child) worker at Defense Colony in Lahore. There are more around 10 million child laborers in Pakistan, where physical violence is common at work.

Despite legislation such as the Employment of Children Act 1991, child labor is on the rise because of increasing poverty,‘ the Pakistan daily Dawn reported.

According to local media reports, statistics show that 70 per cent or more female domestic servants suffer abuse in some form. All domestic servants remain unprotected by labor laws with no regulations in place as to their hours of work, leave of absence and other rights.

Shazia worked for only Rs1,000 (US$12) per month as a domestic worker of that family which had been continuously tortured her. Her body was badly maimed when she was brought to the Jinnah Hospital Lahore where she died. According the local Christians, she was died after severe tortured. She belonged to a very poor family and was their only source of income. She had one younger brother of 8 years age while her two elder sisters are married.

"We were not allowed to see her for a long time," her parents told the media. The alleged killer tried to pressure her father to reach an agreement with him and accept Rs. 20,000 (US$250) for the family's silence in the matter.

After facing a Sindh Assembly members’ protest strong resistance from the Shzia‘s family, the alleged perpetrator brought a police officer to intimidate the family but the family did not relent in demanding justice for their daughter‘s murder.

Christian leaders say that police did not apprehend the accused because Shazia‘s family was poor and belongs to a religious minority group. Many Christians and Muslims on Jan. 23 protested outside the Punjab Assembly for hours, demanding action against the alleged killers. Due to public pressure, a First Information Report (FIR) was lodged by police after at least 18 hours following the protest.