This article for some reason has two separate news stories in it. I’m shifting it around a bit so that it makes more sense.
The first is of a 26 member Christian family that was held in slavery for over 30 years to a Muslim man in Punjab, Pakistan under the guise of paying off a loan that had an astronomical interest rate of 500%. They now have their freedom but they have certainly paid an enormous price for it:
SPERO NEWS – A Christian family consisting of 26 persons, including women and children, lived in slavery for over 30 years. Forced to work on a farm belonging to a wealthy Muslim landowner Rahim Yar Khan, in a district of the province of Punjab, only recently managed to regain freedom. Reduced to servitude for three decades, the family members escaped their captor through the intervention of the leaders of the Catholic Diocese of Bahawalpur. …
About 30 years ago Zulfiquar Masih, a Christian from Rahim Yar Khan, signed a loan to raise enough money for his daughter’s marriage. The interest rate rocketed to touch 500% making it impossible to pay off the debt. For this the entire family was segregated by force in a private jail and forced to work for Basharat Ali Gulo, a Muslim farmer and company owner. Enslaved for three decades, the family managed to free itself through the intervention of the Catholic leaders of Bahawalpur. On behalf of the diocese Fr. Samuel Rafael,filed a complaint against Basharat Ali at the High Court. And the judges have ordered the release of the family, until then held in forced labor.
Speaking to AsiaNews Fr Rafael said that “thousands of workers are kept in conditions of slavery across Pakistan today.” In Sindh province the Hindus are kept in slavery for generations by the feduals. We condemn such acts and will fight for the Christians in slavery. We have raised the matter to the concerned authorities. It is a clear violation of human rights.”
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The second is about the most recent incident of Christian girls being kidnapped in Pakistan that are forced to marry and covert to Islam.
Meanwhile, the 27 year old Catholic schoolgirl Arifa Alfred, segregated for two years by a Muslim, who abducted her with the help of two “friends” to marry her by force and convert her to Islam has managed to escape with her family, and is hiding in a secret location. Arifa, a college student, from Nawa Killi, Quetta, a city near the border with Afghanistan, has lived in conditions of slavery, locked in the house and deprived of freedom of movement and worship, despite having repeatedly reaffirmed her faith in Christ.
The girl was repeatedly beaten with violence, suffered physical and psychological torture. Only by a fortunate circumstance – Amjad, the alleged husband, did not locked the door – did she manage to escape, going first to the hospital to heal her wounds, then her brother. Despite the family complaint, the police was unwilling to intervene, on the contrary, the police inspector expressed his satisfaction with Arifa’s conversion to Islam and invited the girl to return to her kidnapper.
I’m sure there are many more stories like the two of these where Christians (and others) are forcibly enslaved, suffering under horrible conditions. This is so disturbing to me, that while we are living our lives of freedom here in America (of which I am very grateful), that so many are trapped in countries where they are raped and abused through enslavement, of which the local authorities could care less.
If you are a Christian I encourage you to pray for people trapped in these situations, that God would free them from their prisons and smite those who entrapped them. And pray for those trying to free them, that God’s hand would move mightily for them.
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