The Christian mother of five Pakistani children was raped at gunpoint by a Muslim who had harassed Islam, converted to Islam and pressured her to marry him, her husband said.
The 36-year-old woman was alone in a village house at Chak No. 134/16L in Mian Changnu, Kanewar district, Punjab. On June 11, Rashid Anwar broke into the door that opened around 3pm, said her husband, Brick Kiln Worker Indolious Paulus.
Their homes cross the fields of Anwar, Paulus said.
“He often harasssssssssssssssssssssss about converting him and getting him married every time my wife goes outside,” Paulus told Christian Daily International Morning Star News. “We repeatedly complained to Rashid’s family that he would stop harassing her, but he didn’t stop.”
On the day of the attack, the children went to their grandparents’ house and left the main door open, he said. His wife, whose name is withheld as a victim of rape, was in a bad mood and rested in her room.
“She came to know about Rashid’s presence in the room when he locked the door from inside,” Paulus said. “He took out the pistol and threatened to kill her if she let her out. She tried to escape, but he tore her clothes and raped her with the muzzle.”
Paulus and his wife’s brother, Perveis Wilson, arrived at the house from Brick Kiln, where he works to have lunch, he said.
“I was surprised to see the main door open,” Paulus said. “As soon as I stepped inside, I heard her screams from the locked room from inside. We started knocking on the door and asking her to open it.
Anwar pointed the gun at them and told them to move aside, he said.
“He then expanded the aging thatched boundary wall of the house and escaped, but his phone fell to the ground,” Paulus said. “Perveis and I chased him, but he took off on a motorcycle driven by an unknown man and left his own bike.”
Back inside, they spotted his wife trembling. Paulus immediately called the police, and the officers arrived later and had Anwar’s phone and motorcycle. Police took them to the station, registering a lawsuit against Anwar and his unknown accomplice, then took Paulus’ wife to the district hospital for a medical check-up.
However, he said that his late arresting Anwar helped him get pre-arrest bail from the court.
“The police made no serious attempts to arrest Rashid. He was able to obtain temporary relief from the court,” Paulus said. “He was finally arrested three days after the incident, but the police did not inform us of his arrest despite our repeated pleas.”
With the help of rights activist Joseph Jansen, they were finally able to confirm Anwar’s arrest, he said. Anwar appeared in court on Saturday (June 20), and the judge denied his bail before his arrest and sent him back to the police for further investigation.
“We’re now taking Rashid to the police to Lahore so that they can match the samples taken from my wife’s body so that they can submit their charge sheets right away,” Paulus said.
His wife said she would cry all night and couldn’t sleep.
“I’m scared to go outside,” she told Christian Daily International Morning Star News. “For over a year, Rashid harassed me. I tried to convert him and marry him. He constantly threatened me, but no one intervened because of his influence.”
The poor woman said the attacks tormented her children and it was difficult for her to avoid questions in their eyes.
“I have five children – three sons and two daughters,” she said. “My eldest son is 16 and he continues to ask me what happened. How can I tell him that his mother has been violated by a man whom he believed to have the power to satisfy his evil desires?”
Janssen, a field officer for the international advocacy group Jubilee Campaign, supports his family.
“This incident is a tragic yet familiar reminder of the dangerous intersection of gender-based violence and religious persecution,” Janssen told Christian Daily International Morning Star News. “Sexual violence against minority women is not uncommon. It is a systemic human rights emergency that often encounters silence and inaction.”
Janssen said such minority women are disproportionately vulnerable not only because of their gender, but also because of their faith and economic status.
“These women are seen as isolated, marginalized and disposable,” he said. “In a society dominated by patriarchal and religious majority structures, their security is secondary. This is not just rape, it is armed assault and hate crimes.”
He said the dedicated legal team represents her to represent her even to the High Court if necessary.
With a Muslim population of over 96%, Pakistan ranked 8th on the 2025 World Watchlist, where it is the hardest place to become a Christian.
