Islam's religious tolerance

And throughout history, Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality.
Barack Obama - Cairo University

WASHINGTON -- International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that a young Christian man from Pakistan was caught in a compromising situation with the daughter of a radical Muslim family but refused to convert to Islam despite her insistence and the threats of her three brothers. On May 15, the young man's father found his dead body near a canal in a rural Punjab village, after he had been missing for three days.

The young Christian, Litto, was studying for a Masters Degree in English when he met and fell in love with a Muslim girl from his village. During their courtship, she repeatedly attempted to entice him into becoming a Muslim.

Litto's father, Amjad Masih Ghauri, told ICC, "On May 10th, while my son and that Muslim girl, Shazia Cheema, were making love in a lonely part of the fields, her two elder Muslim brothers found them in an objectionable posture and this enraged them." Litto managed to escape the scene and ran home, telling his father everything.

The next day Shazia's three brothers arrived at Litto's house, where they demanded that Litto convert to Islam and marry their sister. Litto said he would marry her, but that he would not convert to Islam. This infuriated the brothers, who kidnapped him at gunpoint and threw him into their car.

Ghauri immediately reported to the police what had happened. In response, the officer on duty said, "How dare you Choohra (derogatory term for Christian) cast malicious eyes on a Muslim girl."

Denied help by the police, Ghauri gathered some of his relatives and searched the countryside for his son for three days until finding his body on May 15. The autopsy revealed that Litto had been sodomized, flogged, clubbed, and stabbed five times in the stomach and genitals. He died from the stab wounds. It is almost certain that during ! the four days Litto was kidnapped, he was offered land, wealth, and his girlfriend if he were to convert to Islam. It was his refusal to become a Muslim that spelled his death sentence in the eyes of these radical Muslims.

Police have filed a court case against the three brothers, but have taken no action. The three young men are roaming freely in the village and telling everyone that they have "taught a good lesson to the Choohras (derogatory term for Christians)."

It is likely that Shazia was operating at the command of her brothers to catch Litto in a compromising situation. It is common in Pakistan for Muslims to use their sisters or daughters to entice Christians to convert to Islam.