A body found near Puni Pulley area off Sargodha Road in Faisalabad, has now been formally identified as that of 33-year old, Javed Masih a Christian man who went missing on 16th May 2019.
Mr. Masih who is from Chak 7 GB Kohala, Faisalabad was said to have sustained multiple injuries to his right arm, right ribs, pelvis, left leg and broken fingers. Mr. Masih had also suffered burns to both his hands and his left eye showed signs that it had been badly bleeding.
Javed Masih was recently employed by Chaudhry Abbass Jutt (55 yrs), looking after animals and earning around 10,000 Pak-Rupees (£113) per month and his wife has told us that he asked his employer for a whole months’ salary in advance to pay for doctors fees for his deaf mute 6 year-old son. Javed only received half the amount that he asked for.
Mr. Masih’s wife, Ghazal (26 yrs), said that Mr. Abbass was often late paying her husband who would often keep him waiting for days for his wages. She also said that her husband would feel unfairly treated and would view himself as someone who did his job with sincerity, often working overtime.
Often, he would threaten to leave his job if Mr. Abbass continued not pay him on time. Being this was his only source of employment, any delays in receiving income would put considerable strain on the already impoverished household who would sometimes go without eating.
Chaudhry Abbass agreed to advance him 5000 Rupees but would threaten him to get it repaid. Javed Masih said that he had no means to honour the debt, he sought alternative employment and it was his new employer who settled the loan.
Ghazal told our representative, Mehwish Bhatti, that Mr. Abbass would scold and beat her husband and often treated him worse than his animals.
Javed Masih was last seen leaving his new employer’s home at 10pm on the night of 16th May heading toward for the house of Mr. Abbass, intending to pay back the 5000 Rupees.
Mr, Masih’s nephew Saleem (24 yrs), stated that Chaudhry Abbass called Javed several times that evening demanding his money back. He also called his wife at 8.30pm, aggressively asking for the whereabouts of her husband and warning that he needed the money to be repaid that night.
Later that evening, after not hearing from her husband, his bewildered wife went on a search for him. She got no response from the home of Mr. Abbass that night and again the next morning and decided to go to the police after frantically waiting several hours. Early the next day the wife visited Nishatabad police station and registered a missing persons report. The next day at around 4.10 pm local police found an unidentified corpse and called Ghazal in to Nitashabad station to see if she could identify the dead body as her husband. A few hours later a shocked and distraught Ghazal was able to identify her murdered husband.
Mr. Masih’s body was found 3km from his home and Nishatabad police are yet to make any arrests. A post mortem to determine the exact cause of death is yet to be completed. However from the exhibited wounds it would seem that a number of men had beaten Mr Masih till death.
There has been no sign since of Chaudhry Abbass, his family or his animals and the family home remains locked and meanwhile Mr. Abbass’s relatives have put pressure on Ghazal to halt the investigation and otherwise remain silent.
Ghazal spoke with Mehwish Bhatti of the British Pakistani Christian Association, she said:
“My heart is broken I have lost my husband and protector.
“As a couple we have struggled to support our disabled son – we have done all we could to make his life one that was joyful.
“The men who murdered my husband killed a loving father and have placed my son and I in an extremely difficult position.
“Stephen toiled for us, he took beatings and abuse for us and his reward for his hard work is an early death – this world is both cruel and unfair.
“I know God will protect us and trust in Him but my heartaches for Stephen who suffered so much in his short life.
“I pray to God daily asking that he gives Stephen his just reward and a place in heaven for his faithfulness – one day we will be reunited.”
Wilson Chowdhry, Chairman of the British Asian Christian Association, said:
“This unfortunate death is the result of a despicable murder.
“A family has been destroyed by the courage of killers who know full well they will escape justice in a country where the police force is apathetic or intolerant to the needs of minorities.
“The fact that Christians and other minorities have to hire a solicitor to enact a proper murder investigation is a poor indictment on the rule of law in Pakistan.
“A young mother with a deaf mute child has no chance of long-term survival in Pakistan where the patriarchal society undermines a woman’s worth – moreover Ghazal is a Christian she is doubly discriminated.
“Worse still for this young mother simply finding work and placing her child in school is not possible. Her child is deaf mute and Pakistani schools simply do not have the expertise to care for him.
“When I look at this situation I can’t help but wonder what happened to the billions of pounds Britain and the US have given to Pakistani authorities to improve holistic educational reform – hardly money well spent.”
The British Pakistani Christian Association has paid for the funeral cost of Javed Masih.
Newly widowed Ghazal needs financial help to proceed with a court case and we need to raise £500 to initiate a police investigation. Ghazal Masih also needs some monthly financial support to maintain her household as she has lost her main breadwinner and cannot work due to the need for constant care for her paralyzed son. BPCA would like to offer her £120 per month for a year as she trys to get her life back on track. If you are moved to help please donate through one of the many donate options on or website (click here). BPCA may have to consider sponsoring this family for a longer term and we will keep you informed with progress towards rehabilitating this family.
