Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Lahore (Agenzia Fides) – A fight that degenerates on the difference of religion, then the homocide with a gun in his face. This is how Allah Ditta died, a twenty-year-old Christian, domestic worker in a small village in the Manga Mandi area, 30 km from Lahore, the capital of Punjab province. In the village there are 150 Christian families living in a single neighborhood. The boy worked to support his family of five sisters, one of them disabled, a younger brother and his 70-year-old parents.
As reported to Fides by the Christian organization "The Voice Society," on April 4 a group of young Muslims aged between 17 and 19, from the same village, had entered the Christian area and were apostrophizing and harassing Christian girls. When they saw Ditta go by, they also insulted his disabled sister. The young man answered, and dismissed them. The young Muslims said that "a Christian must not dare act in such a way, because Muslims are superior and Christians are our slaves." As the fight continued, also heard by other witnesses, one of the bullies, named Sadam, pulled out a gun and shot Allah Ditta in the head.
The police arrived at the scene an hour after the murder, filed a complaint (First Informaation Report), which speaks of "an accident" as the "Muslim boys were checking the bullets in the gun when a bullet was shot accidentally "
Aneeqa Maria Akhtar, a Christian lawyer of "The Voice Society", who carried out a field survey, said in a note sent to Fides: "Christians live in fear and under constant threat of death. They can be killed at any time. The police, instead of enforcing the law, accepts bribes from the offender: it is scary." Christian lawyers who follow the case have lodged a further complaint by the Ditta family in order to obtain justice. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 18/04/2013)
