Free Saima & Sinaha: Two Christian Girls falsely charged and tortured by Faisalabad Police!

Domestic servants are treated like slaves in Pakistan and ostensibly treated like household property. Especially vulnerable religious minority girls and women find themselves in a dangerous and precarious vocation where they are often abused and mistreated. After Saima's mother informed the homeowner's wife that they were making preparations for Saima’s imminent marriage and she would be leaving employment for all intents and purposes she became disposable to them. Saima (24) had worked for them for 3 years.

Seizing on her absence over Christmas, the homeowners, seemingly found a way to benefit from Saima's departure, when they contrived a story accusing Saima and her family of stealing 35 tola of gold. The homeowner's wife has a history of making false allegations that she has later retracted.

Following being falsely accused of theft by Rana Saif Ulah Khanwho - her rich and influential Muslim employer, a Christian domestic worker Saima (24), and her young female cousin Sinaha (11) who was visiting for the holidays - were held for several days and tortured by male police officers who disrobed in front of the innocent girls, pulled their hair, beat, and kicked them mercilessly.

Saima endured a beating at Rana's house in which she was beaten so badly on her legs that she could not walk and started exhibiting symptoms of shock. She was then sent home to recover without medical attention where her entire neighbourhood witnessed her injuries.

In addition to the regular three hour beatings and interrogation Sinaha and Saima were each forced to endure at the hands of the men. Saima endured a harrowing ordeal by an unknown policeman of being hung by her arms, having boiling water poured down her throat in order to try to get her to confess something she did not do while her mother - who had also been beaten - was forced to listen outside.

A First Information Report was not registered until 13 days later and predated only after it came to the attention of local media that the girls had been held and tortured without charges all that time. Even then the FIR was phrased as an assumption of what happened with no verifiable facts. This pre-dated FIR was not filed until the media started asking questions. Almost two weeks later they were finally taken to a hospital where - in the presence of their accuser - Saima was given her two injections and forced her to put her thumb print on a paper before taking both girls to the women's prison. Saima was not treated for her injuries. Further details and a timeline can be found in the weblink provided

The British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA) is calling for justice for Saima, Sinaha and their families.