The heartbreaking story of 12-year old Shazia Masih should unite all Pakistanis in an effort to ensure something like her brutal murder never happens again.
Before she fell victim to Mohammad Naeem’s beatings and torture, she was prey to the shackles of generational poverty. Her parents needed her to work to keep food on the table, to allow the family to get by. She was already a victim. At the age of 12, she had already working as a maid for eight months at the home of wealthy lawyer Mohammad Naeem. Any dreams she may have had would have seemed like impossible hopes for her.
The job required her to live in Naeem’s house, and her mother was denied chances to see her. When she learned her daughter was admitted to the hospital, she immediately went there…only to learn Shazia had died.
Naeem says she would help herself to food at his house, and she had done this multiple times. What kind of a human being is this man, who would deny a poor child food? He beat her so much so that she had to be taken to a hospital where she died on January 22nd. A postmortem report confirmed the girl had been tortured to death: her body had several marks of wounds of a sharp-edged weapon, her right arm and ribs were fractured, her skull was damaged and her nails have been plucked out.
The police were reluctant to investigate the claims of torture and murder, but CLAAS (a ministry that aids Pakistani Christians) put pressure police by contacting media outlets and bringing attention to this story.
As a country, we cannot continue like this. There is no hope for us if we do. Shazia Masih’s story should ignite a passion in all of us to end the religious divides between us. We are all Pakistanis, we all live in a country the Quaid hoped would be a peaceful land for all to live freely and safely. Shazia is also an example of the harshness of poverty. Our political leaders must take note and work harder than ever before to break the cycle of poverty that robs children of the chance at a better future. Children should not be exploited, should not be made available to human scum like Mohammad Naeem to be beaten, raped, tortured, murdered. We must offer our children a better life than that.
President Zardari has made it his domestic priority to focus on women’s rights and poverty. It is truly heartening to see a leader of our country step up and call out our problems as they are, and not pretend they don’t exist. This is not a political issue, it is a moral one, it is a question of our very decency.
Shazia is gone, but will never be forgotten. For her parents, the world must be a dark, miserable place. Imagine…having to send your child, your young daughter away because of lack of money, only to learn you sent her to her death. We must focus on the key issues here….poverty, child labor, women’s rights.
The country that gave the Muslim world its first and only female leader needs to get back on that track. The Quaid’s Pakistan, Benazir’s Pakistan…they are visions of a country where all citizens, regardless of religion or gender, have a right to improve their lives and live with respect.
We have to remind ourselves of where we want to go, start working in that direction, and never, ever stop.
