Pakistan: parents forgive

A Christian girl was killed in January after she and two friends shrugged off the advances of young drunken Muslim men from one of the elite areas of Lahore, Defence Colony.

Kiran (17), Shamroza (18) and Sumble (20) were walking home after a hard day’s work, on their way to their deprived Christian community in Baowala. They had set off at 9 pm on 13 January to get home quickly before it got too unsafe. However, they were accosted by four allegedly drunk Muslims in a car, who harassed them to get into the car for ‘a ride and some fun’.

Aggressive attitude

The three girls explained that they were devout Christians who did not practise sex outside marriage and bravely scolded the young men for their untoward advances. This caused an immediate change in the demeanour of the boys, who became more aggressive.

Terrified of the increasingly dangerous situation, the girls started to run, which further enraged the young men, who drove and crashed their car into them.

The impact on Shamroza and Sumble threw them to the sides of the vehicle and sharply to the ground. Shamroza broke several ribs and Sumble broke her hip, but the impact of the car lifted Kiran off the ground and on to the bonnet of the car, where she thumped the windscreen. The young men continued to laugh in their drunken stupor and increased their speed, finally braking when they saw another car in front of them. The momentum of the emergency stop threw Kiran up into the air and rapidly onto the ground where she cracked her head open and smashed numerous bones, the resulting internal bleeding killing her within minutes.

The driver involved in the incident was caught and arrested and is still incarcerated. Apparently his family has met with the three families of the victims, Sumble, Shamroza and Kiran, and expressed pain at the actions of their son.

Forgiveness

The mother of Kiran Masih, Suriya Bibi, described the meeting: ‘The family of the driver has expressed great sorrow for all the victims and have asked for forgiveness for them and their young son. I am very angry and upset by the loss of my daughter, but punishing the young man who has taken my daughter away from me will not bring her back. I have decided not to take action against him. We have decided to show love and compassion and have forgiven the family. Our Lord Jesus Christ forgave those that persecuted him and we have chosen to follow his example.’

All three families have chosen forgiveness and refrained from sharing their story with other groups. The driver’s family has agreed to pay a large compensatory figure to all three victim families.