This post is also available in: العربية (Arabic) اردو (Urdu)
You might remember that recently a man of the minority community, Sajid Masih, jumped from the fourth floor of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) building in Lahore. Earlier, the reason of his act was unknown and many believed that he was pushed from there.
Sajid Masih, 24, is the cousin of Patras Masih, who was being probed by the FIA on allegations of posting blasphemous content on social media. The FIA had summoned Patras Masih to their office, so his cousin Sajid decided to accompany him.
On reaching the FIA building, officials took both Masih brothers to the fourth floor, where they started harassing and beating them. When the officials started slandering Sajid, he asked about his crime, and the officials replied that he was the cousin of the prime suspect in a blasphemy case.
What happened next, allegedly, has shocked the entire nation. Sajid Masih, after recovering, in his statement said that FIA officials had forced Sajid to have sex with his cousin Patras Masih. On this he begged the officials on how he could do so, as Patras was his brother. And then came the defining moment, when Sajid decided that death was better than disgrace as he jumped from the fourth floor of the building.
“They asked me to abuse myself, but I refused to do so. Later, they asked me to sexually assault my cousin, but I remained silent and jumped from the building,” said Sajid in his video statement from the hospital.
However, FIA Deputy Director Khwaja Hammad rejected Sajid’s claims and stated that Sajid was called along Patras because he was also part of the Facebook group where the blasphemous content was shared. Regarding Sajid’s claims of jumping from the building on being forced to have sex with his cousin, the Deputy Director said that Sajid was asked to put his phone’s password so it could be checked. At this, Sajid panicked and resorted to jumping from the building.
Khwaja Hammad also stated that nobody had touched the suspect and the phone’s code was not broken by FIA as it could cause data loss and proof of his involvement would have vanished. However, people on social media are not buying Khwaja Hammad’s statement.
Sajid Masih gives statement from the hospital explaining why he had to jump off the 4 floor of FIA building in Lhe. He claims FIA beat him up during investigation of blasphemy case against his cousin Patras & officers tried to force him to have oral sex with his cousin @CMShehbaz pic.twitter.com/6uijQiyvY3
— M. Jibran Nasir (@MJibranNasir) February 24, 2018
Can’t bear to see the video of #SajidMasih. Then we want other people to sing praises all the time abt how we treat minorities.
— Mahwash Ajaz (@mahwashajaz_) February 24, 2018
Watching a dying Sajid Masih tell the horror story of torture by FIA officials. It’s the lowest I’ve felt about humanity in a long time
— Dr Yasar Yousafzai (@Yasaryousafzai) February 25, 2018
Social activists have asked the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take suo-moto action of the case, as the FIA officials might be trapping the Masih brothers in a false blasphemy charge.
