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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Pakistani Moslems Debate With Pakistani Christians About TV Rentals |
| 2005-01-22 |
| From Compass Direct A young Christian shopkeeper in Pakistan's Punjab province had his arm chopped off by a Muslim customer who became enraged during a disagreement over a TV rental. Shahbaz Masih, 22, was approached last November 28 by a customer wanting to rent a television set from his video shop in Talwandi, a little village near Chak Jhumra in Faisalabad district. When Masih declined the request, his customer, a 26-year-old butcher named Ahmed Ali, became furious, declaring the Christian had insulted him. "How dare you, a poor Christian, refuse my request?" he reportedly shouted at Masih before he left the shop. Returning home, Ahmed Ali consulted with his father, Maqsood Ahmed, also a butcher. Shortly afterwards he went back searching for Masih, armed with a butcher's ax. Ahmed Ali forced his way into Masih's house and attacked the shop owner, chopping off his left arm near the elbow. He left the house threatening the victim and his widowed mother, Munawar Bibi, with even more "dire consequences" for the alleged insult he had endured. Later that same day, Masih was admitted for emergency treatment at the Allied Hospital in Faisalabad. After his discharge from the hospital four days later, the young man was forced to close his shop, take his mother and leave their village to go into hiding. .... |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |