By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
GUJRANWALA, PAKISTAN (Worthy News) – Christians in Pakistan’s Punjab province are mourning Suleman Masih, a 25-year-old Christian farmer, who they say was “brutally murdered” by “Muslim landlords” on New Year’s Day.
The January 1 attack in the village of Kot Asad Ullah near the city of Gujranwala came after the “Masih family was falsely accused [of wrongdoing],” said Sardar Mushtaq Gill, the founder of LEAD Ministries Pakistan, a Christian advocacy and charity group.
“The land they cultivated was forcibly taken from them,” added Gill in an interview with Worthy News. “Despite this, the heartless Muslim perpetrators were not satisfied [with the land] and went on to murder the young man. He was shot ín the stomach and his younger brother Dawood, who was also attacked, narrowly survived his injuries,” Gill said.
Video footage shared by local believers with Worthy News showed Christians praying and crying near the body of the deceased.
Gill suggested that the murder was linked to Muslim anger over Masih’s faith in Christ and jealousy about his success as a respected farmer. “They killed him because he is Christian and mostly Muslims became jealous that a non-Muslim was able to settle here as a farmer. He had been threatened in the past and was previously [falsely] accused of blasphemy against Islam. But due to fear, he never complained to police,” Gill told Worthy News.
He added that Masih leaves behind a woman he planned to marry soon and an extended family “for whom he was the sole breadwinner.”
“His brutal murder has not only stolen a young life but has left his family, including his parents and siblings, without the primary support they relied on for their well-being. The killing of Suleman Masin plunged them into further hardship, compounding the injustice they have already suffered,” Gill explained.
NO ARRESTS
One of the suspects was identified publicly as influential Muslim Muhammad Jabbar, “whose killers” allegedly carried out the attack. Jabbar did not immediately comment on those allegations.
No suspects were detained Saturday, but Gill said LEAD Ministries Pakistan “stands in solidarity with the family.”
He confirmed that a LEAD-backed pastor is in the area and will receive “free legal support” if needed.
“We urge all institutions to deliver justice for this oppressed family and ask everyone to pray for their strength and comfort during this difficult time.”
The attack comes at a period of concern about the treatment of devoted Christians in Pakistan, where an attack in Jaranwala on August 2023 saw the destruction of over 20 churches and almost 100 homes. The Jaranwala violence was in response to allegations that two believers had desecrated the Koran, charges they denied.
Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy laws are often used to target minority groups, but Christians are disproportionately affected, Worthy News established.
Roughly a quarter of all blasphemy accusations target Christians, who only make up 1.8 percent of the over 250-million-strong population, according to Christian researchers.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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