Two human rights activists, who had traveled from Karachi to Faisalabad, were reportedly briefly held and subjected to mistreatment by the police. This information came to light on Saturday, and in response, the police accused the activists of misconduct.
The incident was brought to public attention by lawyer and human rights advocate Jibran Nasir on Friday through a series of posts on social media, specifically on X (formerly known as Twitter).
In his posts, Nasir strongly condemned what he described as a deeply concerning and reprehensible action by the Punjab police. He disclosed that two well-known human rights advocates from Karachi, namely Pastor Ghazala Shafique and Luke Victor, had journeyed to Faisalabad to provide assistance to Reverend Father Eleazar Sidhu.
Reverend Sidhu, a Christian priest, had been shot and injured on September 3, as detailed in the initial police report available on Dawn.com. According to the FIR, Sidhu, who served at the Myong-Sang Naserth church in Jaranwala tehsil, was returning home from the church in the evening when an unidentified bearded individual shot and wounded him.
The FIR also documented an incident from August 28 when Sidhu was leading prayers at the church. During that time, someone had written offensive religious slogans against him on the outer wall of the church. The police acted on his complaint and had the slogans removed.
In the days leading up to the alleged incident, Sidhu had reported being threatened by a group of bearded individuals while dropping off his son at school. They reportedly warned him, saying, "Since our written slogans have been erased from the church wall, you will also soon be erased."
According to Nasir's social media posts, Sidhu was arrested, unlawfully detained by local law enforcement, and subjected to physical abuse. He claimed that Sidhu was coerced into making a statement suggesting that he had inflicted the gunshot on himself, thereby allowing the actual culprits to evade responsibility.
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