LAHORE: A Christian girl who was set ablaze by a Muslim man in Sialkot for “refusing to renounce her faith and marry him” passed away at the hospital on Sunday evening.
25-year-old Asma was being treated in the burns unit at Lahore’s Mayo Hospital where her condition was stated to be critical.
According to the girl’s father Yaqoob Masih, his daughter used to work as a domestic help at the house of Saeeduz Zaman in Mohalla Pakpura area in Sialkot.
“On April 17, my son Maqsood and I went to Zaman’s house around to meet Asma and to inquire after the health of Zaman’s mother. We were sitting in a room when there was a knock on the front gate. Asma went out to see who had come when after some time we heard her screaming in pain. Zaman, Maqsood and I rushed outside to see what had happened and saw the accused Rizwan Gujjar fleeing from the scene while Asma was engulfed in flames,” Masih claimed in the First Information Report (FIR) registered with Sialkot’s Civil Lines Police.
Earlier, Masih said that they took Asma to the Sialkot Civil Hospital where she told them that Gujjar had been forcing her for quite some time to marry him but she had turned down his proposal because she did not want to convert to Islam.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Masih said that he retired from the Tehsil Municipal Authority Sialkot a few years ago and his 10 children were now providing the livelihood for the family.
Civil Lines Police Sub-Inspector Muhammad Riaz said that they had arrested Gujjar and he had confessed to his crime.
“We have prepared the charge sheet and sent him to jail,” he said.
“Asma has suffered 80 per cent burn injuries on her face and body,” Masih said while demanding exemplary punishment for the accused.