In the latest round of Christian persecution in Pakistan, a Christian couple was falsely accused of desecrating a Koran and then murdered.
The murder took place in Kot Radha Kirshan, a village about 40 miles from the city of Lahore according to the BBC.
The married couple, identified only as Shama and Shehzad, had worked at a brick kiln. A desecrated Koran was found in the area of the kiln earlier in the day and a Muslim mob decided it had to be the Christian couple. So they killed them and stuffed their bodies into the brick kiln.
The chief minister of the region has said he will investigate the killings.
The American Center for Law and Justice, who has been raising the alarm about Asia Bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death on false accusations of blaspheming Mohammed, is calling for the U.S. to end foreign aid to Pakistan until they take steps to stop the killing of Christians.
While the leaders of Pakistan were using a blasphemy law to persecute Christians and keep a Christian mother jailed on false charges, the United States was giving the Pakistani government over $7.5 billion.
The American Center for Law and Justice is now calling for the United States to end financial aid to countries that persecute religious minorities.
“We must stop sending billions of our taxpayer dollars to nations that persecute Christians. It’s that simple. Not one more dime for persecution. Cut off American foreign aid to any country that persecutes Christians,” a petition started by the ACLJ reads. “As a wave of persecution sweeps across the Middle East — and Christians flee for their lives — it’s time for the money to stop. Already there is growing support for basic human rights and basic common sense on Capitol Hill.”
The focus of the petition is Asia Bibi, a Christian woman falsely accused of blasphemy by Muslims who were upset she took a drink of water from a bowl they wanted to use to drink.
Bibi’s death sentence for blasphemy is now in the hands of the country’s supreme court.
The Pakistani government is receiving condemnation and pressure from around the world over a death sentence given to a Christian woman falsely accused of blasphemy.
Asia Bibi has been jailed for four years after a Muslim woman who was angry she drew water from the same bowl as her made false accusations that Bibi, a Christian, blasphemed the prophet Mohammed.
One Christian group said they are working to increase the international pressure on Pakistan for giving a death penalty to a woman simply because she is a Christian.
“We continue to hope because, as Christians, our faith nourishes hope. We continue to pray for Asia Bibi and for her release, so that the Lord protects and comforts her. But there are many elements that are not conducive to optimism,” Haroon Barkat, director of the Masihi Foundation, told Fides News Agency.
The Christian leaders in the nation who have been fighting for Bibi are taking the case to the nation’s Supreme Court.
