#JusticeForKainat

Pakistani Christian teenage girl viciously murdered in Kamoki, Gujranwala district. The victim Kainat Salamat daughter of Salamat Masih was working in the home of Muhammad Asif as a domestic helper. Asif Ismail is the son of MLA Ismail Gujjar an Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Member Legislative Assembly(MLA).

“According to the Police Report, Salamat Masih told the police that On Sunday, when he went to see his daughter, he heard her cries. When he entered the house, he saw Asif, his wife, Lubna, Kashif Ismail, Muhammad Tariq Ismail and an unidentified person manhandling Kainat.”

Kainat Salamat was working in the home of Muhammad Asif Gujjar (36 yrs) as a domestic helper from the age of 11 and frequently complained to her family about the brutality of her employers. However, the desperate family who were struggling to make ends meet asked her to bear the pain for the sake of easing the financial burden on the rest of them.

For many years she cleaned, cooked, gardened and acted like a nanny for the children of her employers. A requirement of the job was that she lived in the home of the Muslim family as a full-time servant available 24 hour a day.

Her family has said that her place of employment was only 15 minutes away from their home and that they would visit Kainat as often as they could, sometimes this would be twice a week other times they might not visit for a month or longer. One way or the other the impression our officer has gained about her existence is that it would have been one of depression and loneliness. Moreover, the family have intimated that often she would express a sense of low worth and a belief that her family did not love her. The parents argue that it was because they loved her and their other children that they put her to work because they can’t provide good clothes, food or education to her, so she would have regular clean clothes provided by her employers, good food and a clean and safe home. She was also paid monthly 5000 Rupees ($50) for doing several types of physical labor within a 24 hours period. Every time she was paid her family would ask her to bring her wages in order to utilize supporting the costs of their home.

He told police that Asif Gujjar and his wife were seizing the legs of Kainat while Muhammad Kashif and Muhammad Tariq Pasran had grabbed her arms. He described how a rope had been tied around her neck and the attackers were trying to strangle her. Salamat Masih said that he begged the attackers not to kill his daughter but they did not pay any heed to his plea. in the FIR he said that the attackers killed Kainat in front of his eyes.

A First Information Report (FIR) number 344/18 was registered at Saddar Police Station in Gujranwala on 7th May. The FIR invoked sections 302, 147 and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

They told people that she had suffered a severe heart attack which had caused her death. The family started preparing for a funeral using a shroud and some money that had been sent by her employers who were described as ‘grieving for Kainat’. However, a family member concerned about marks on Kainat’s corpse called the local police. During the ensuing police investigation rope marks were found around Kainat’s neck, bruises were found on her cheeks, and wounds were located on her fingers and wrists.

Local Police confirmed that there were no signs of a heart attack and told the family that Kainat must have committed suicide or that she had been murdered. Kainat’s corpse was taken to Civil Hospital Gujranwala for a post-mortem study where doctors also found evidence of rape on the teenager.

A memorial was held for the deceased at the Civil Lines church where the Christian leaders demanded the chief minister take notice of the incident.

We know how injustice is happening with the minorities and poor people. Powerful Muslim families often settle out of court by paying Qisas and Diyat bribes a legal ‘get out of jail’ payment that is enshrined in Sharia Law and adopted in Pakistan. This injustice and cruelty will rule in this land until American & European International Organization or Humanitarians will not empower Pakistani Christian minority, to enable them to fight for their rights.