This month, Muslims abducted and raped a 14-year-old Christian girl in Pakistan. Her brother said he believed the assault was an act of revenge for an earlier dispute.
Sahil George, 21, a member of the Semi-Reformed Presbyterian Church in Sahiwal, Punjab, said his sister left home briefly on December 7 to buy bread at a nearby shop, but was stopped by a Muslim neighbor.
“She was approached by Muhammad Bilal Arshad and Muhammad Zohaib on the street, forced to sit on a motorcycle at gunpoint, and taken to their house,” George told Christian Daily International Morning Star News. “They locked her in a room where Zohaib raped her.”
The family became alarmed when the child did not return home for a long time and began searching the nearby streets.
“During the search, two residents informed us that a girl had been thrown outside her home by a motorcyclist and appeared to be in a semi-conscious state,” George said. “I rushed there and it was my sister.”
Her family immediately called the police, who arrived and took her to the hospital. A subsequent medical examination confirmed that she had been raped, George said.
George said police initially arrested Arshad, Zohaib and another person, identified as Shamil Arshad. Bilal Arshad and Shamil Arshad were later released after Zohaib claimed to have acted alone, he said.
George’s father, George Masih, died about 15 years ago, and he became the main breadwinner for his widowed mother, Nasreen Bibi, and two sisters. George, who works at a wedding decorations store, said the attack occurred after he got into an argument with Bilal Arshad during a cockfight event a few months ago.
“My friends and I got into a fight with Bilal and his group because they refused to hand over the prize money and trophies they had won in what they believed to be a fair competition,” he said. “In the end, we took the money and the trophy, but they held a grudge against me because of it.”
He added that Zohaib and Arshad had confronted his sister on the street a few days before the incident, warning her that they would take revenge for what they considered a humiliation.
“Some people are trying to pressure me to settle with the defendant,” George said. “But how can I compromise my sister’s honor and life? If they wanted revenge, they should have taken revenge from me. Instead, they targeted my sister, scarring her for life and causing untold mental and emotional pain to our family.”
Human rights activists say women and girls from Pakistan’s religious minority communities, including Christians and Hindus, are at risk of sexual violence.
“Minority women in Pakistan are at greater risk of sexual violence and other forms of abuse than women in general,” said Albert Patras, a human rights activist who works with female victims of violence in southern Punjab province. “This vulnerability stems from the confluence of discrimination based on gender, religion, socio-economic status and caste.”
Despite constitutional guarantees of equality, minority women often face systemic neglect and exclusion from legal protection and social services, Patras said.
“In many cases, perpetrators of crimes against minority women escape responsibility,” he says. “In this case, Bilal, one of the main accused, was reportedly released based on Zohaib’s confession, although the child himself clearly admitted that Bilal was involved in the kidnapping.”
He called on the authorities to thoroughly investigate the incident, taking into account the victim’s statements, and ensure that all those involved are held accountable according to the law.
“Police must ensure justice without discrimination or pressure,” Patras said.
Pakistan, where more than 96 percent of the population is Muslim, ranks eighth on Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List of countries where Christians face the most severe persecution.
