MURDERED OVER A CUP OF TEA

Young Christian murdered in Pakistan for drinking from Muslim teacup

Ishtiaq Masih, a young Christian man from rural Pakistan, was taking a long distance bus to the big city. His bus had been bumping along the dusty roads for hours, and there was no air conditioning. The passengers were ready for a break. At Machharkay village, the bus finally stopped to let the passengers get out and stretch their legs. Ishtiaq piled out with the others and followed a crowd to a tea stall on the side of the road.

Sadly, Ishtiaq did not notice a red sign with a death’s head painted on it posted on the wall that said, “You must declare your faith before you are served.” He innocently ordered his tea, sipped it quick ly, and went to the cashier to pay for his drink as the driver gave warning that the bus would be leaving soon.

However, when Ishtiaq showed the cashier his teacup in order to pay his bill, a routine bus ride turned into an afternoon of terror. The cashier was Mubarak Ali, the owner of the tea stall, a radical Muslim. Ishtiaq was wearing a cross necklace, and when Ali saw that a Christian had drunk out of his teacup, he became enraged. InPakistan, restaurants routinely provide different silverware for Christians because it is a Muslim belief that

Christians defile what ever they touch.



Ali grabbed Ishtiaq and shouted for his employees to bring anything avail able to beat him for violating the sign posted on the wall. Fourteen men responded and gathered around Ishtiaq, beating him with stones, iron rods and clubs, and stabbing him with kitchen knives as Ishtiaq pleaded for mercy.

The other bus passengers and passers-by finally intervened and took Ishtiaq to the Rural Health Center in the village. There Ishtiaq died as a result of spinal, head, and chest injuries. The doctor who took Ishtiaq’s case told that Ishtiaq had excessive internal and external bleeding, a fractured skull, and brain injuries.

People visited the tea stall and the large red warning sign with a death’s head symbol which read, “All non-Muslims should introduce their faith prior to ordering tea. This tea stall serves Muslims only.” The warning also threatened anyone who violated the rule with “dire consequences.”

A neighboring shopkeeper told on condition of anonymity that Ali is a fundamentalist Muslim and all his employees are former students of radical Muslim madrassas (seminaries).

Ishtiaq’s family said that they immediately reported the incident to the police and filed a case against Ali. Though the police registered their case, no ac tion has been taken to apprehend Ali or his employees.

When Iasked the Pindi Bha tian Saddar police station about the murder, the po lice chief said that inves tigations were underway and they are treating it as a faith-based mur der by biased Muslims. When asked about Ali’s warning sign, police chief Muhammad Iftikhar Bajwa claimed that he could not take it down.

However, the constitution of Pakistan ex plicitly prohibits such discrimination, and the police could take strong action against the warning sign. But because the police are also Muslim, Ishtiaq’s father claims that they are being derelict in their duties to prosecute the murderers who are still freely operating the tea stall.