By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
SIALKOT, PAKISTAN (Worthy News) – The body of a murdered Christian man was dumped at a hospital in Pakistan’s Punjab province amid ongoing killings of Christians in the region by Muslim extremists, investigators said Friday.
The victim was identified as Sujawal Masih, a man in his 20s from the Mohalla Atari area of Rangpura town in Sialkot District.
“According to early reports, two unidentified men on a motorcycle dropped Sujawal’s lifeless body at Government Allama Iqbal Memorial Teaching Hospital and fled the scene without providing any details,” said Sardar Mushtaq Gill, a Christian human rights lawyer following the case.
Yet in “a disturbing breach of standard medical and legal protocols, hospital staff reportedly used Sujawal’s phone to inform his family rather than conducting a post-mortem or notifying authorities,” added Gill, founder of advocacy group LEAD Ministries Pakistan
“His father, Ramzan Masih, was handed documents to sign before the body was released without an autopsy, raising serious concerns about potential evidence tampering and procedural negligence,” he stressed.
The hospital and local authorities have not yet commented, but the family was contacting police Friday to help with the investigation, sources told Worthy News.
“The family, shocked and devastated, contacted the local police. [The police] have since initiated an investigation and are registering a First Information Report (FIR), which is needed to launch a criminal investigation, Gill explained to Worthy News.
POST-MORTEM EXAMINATION
A post-mortem examination of the murdered man’s human remains has now been requested, “which may shed light on whether Sujawal was tortured before his death,” Gill noticed.
Investigators believe his body showed signs of torture. Gill said the incident “sparked outrage” among the Christian community and human rights advocates.
Thursday’s murder case emerged only days after the May 12 killing of another young Christian man in Pakistan’s Punjab province.
Kashif Masih, who is not related, was “brutally tortured [to death] in [the city of] Sialkot in what appears to be a hate-motivated crime,” explained Gill in an earlier interview with Worthy News.
In comments shared with Worthy News, Christian legislators in the Punjab Assembly, the province’s parliament, demanded a criminal investigation into the possible involvement or negligence of police in the abduction and torture of Kashif Masih.
No more details were immediately available about that case.
There have also been other killings of Christians in Pakistan this year, Worthy News documented.
PATTERN OF VIOLENCE
Gill said the latest murder shows a “continuous pattern of violence targeting Christians” in the Islamic nation.
“The increasing incidents of brutalities against Christian youth are unacceptable. We condemn this violence in the strongest possible terms and call on the government to deliver swift justice,” he added.
Pastor Imran Amanat, another key leader of LEAD Ministries, also voiced his condemnation. “We mourn the loss of Sujawal Masih and stand with his family in this hour of pain. We ask the Christian community and all people of conscience to join us in prayer for the victims of such violence. We urge the authorities to ensure that the perpetrators are held accountable,” he said.
Christian rights groups and civil society activists have urged “a transparent investigation and concrete steps to protect religious minorities in Pakistan.”
As the community “mourns the loss of yet another innocent life, the case of Sujawal Masih serves as a somber reminder of the challenges faced by Pakistan’s Christian population,” Gill said.
He added that there was an “urgent need for reform in both societal attitudes and legal protections.”
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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