On June 6, a Christian woman called Shazia Bibi, who worked at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), went missing in Lahore, Pakistan, and was later found dead. The news was reported on social media only on July 1, after the police had arrested a suspect.
The Punjab Police issued a statement where it blamed the victim. It claimed that the woman, a widow, had started a relationship with the accused and had tried to blackmail him, until she killed her.
The Punjab Police stated that, “Giving a religious color to the motives behind the killing is inappropriate and completely contrary to the facts. Further investigation is going on, the case will be brought together according to the requirements of justice and law, and the guilty will be punished.”
However, the Anglican community, to which Shazia Bibi belonged, carried out its own investigation and plainly stated that the police is lying. Bishop Azad Marshall, the Moderator Bishop of the Church of Pakistan (Anglican), stated that “Shazia Bibi was abducted, gangraped, murdered and her body doused in acid by four Muslim men on June 6 after she repeatedly turned down attempts to forcibly convert and marry the main accused.”
