The Forgotten Calvary of Christians in Pakistan

Can you die for a simple glass of water? If you are Christian and Pakistani, yes, you can.
Sharon Masih was both; we now know a little more on the terrible story of the young man’s death, thanks to the Italian newspaper La Stampa.
A Culture of Hostility Toward Christianity
Sharon Masih was the only Christian in his class in a public school in Burewala, south of Pakistani Punjab. Like many other Christians in the country, he was used to the daily humiliations he was subjected to for his fidelity to the Faith of his baptism, and he had even undergone attempts at intimidation to make him convert to Islam, which he always refused to do.
Things came to a head on August 30, when the young man decided to fill a glass in a fountain of cool water to quench his thirst. Nothing to worry about, normally, except for one major detail: the high school’s only water fountain is exclusively reserved for the use of the Muslims.
“Don’t do it, Choora (Impure one)!” shouted his classmates; Pakistan is considered the Muslim “Land of the Pure,” and Christians are not seen as having a right to belong. Before Sharon had a chance to explain himself, the shouts turned to blows, hailing down harder and harder, until the teenager fell down lifeless, amid the indifference of the teaching staff, who did not even call an ambulance to bring the poor boy to a hospital.
I couldn’t do anything because I “was reading the newspaper,” one of Sharon Masih’ teachers who was present at the time of the drama declared unconcernedly to the police. But according to the father of the murdered boy, the incident “is based on the religious fanaticism” of the Muslims, explains the family’s Christian lawyer Sardar Mushtaq Gill.
The Bishops Speak
The bishops of Pakistan spoke out strongly, blaming the government for its responsibility: “We live in a society where students spread hate, discrimination, bullying, intolerance” against non-Muslims, they declared in their statement as reported by the news agency Fides.
Bishop Joseph Arshad, President of the National Commission for Justice and Peace, drove this point home; he said that from far away the episode of Sharon’s death “may seem like a trivial quarrel among teenagers”, but it most certainly was not; his death was “caused by intolerance, discrimination and inhuman attitudes toward the Christian minority.
Sharon Masih’s story recalls that of Asia Bibi, the young woman condemned to death in 2010 for drinking out of a well reserved for Muslims, and who has been waiting on death row since to learn what her fate will be.
While Christians in Pakistan – who represent scarcely over 2% of the population – are living through a veritable Calvary, it is not the case with all “minorities”; in 2017, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan became the first government in the world to recognize “transgenderism” when it granted a “transgender passport” to a man who considers himself a woman. The country’s double standards are astounding.
Sources: Vatican Insider / La Stampa / Fides / Riposte Catholique / FSSPX.News – 9/23/2017