A Christian teenage girl was abducted after being lured with  handsomely paid domestic work.

The victim, Mehwish, is a resident of Khalid Colony in Faisalabad, Punjab.

She taken away by a Muslim family and never returned home. Her mother Shahnaz (real name is withheld) told of  the horrific ordeal of the family and disclosed that her husband was shot dead by the captors.

According to Shahnaz, about two months ago a Muslim family approached her and on 12 March, and told her that they wanted to hire Mehwish for domestic work at an evening party at their house. They assured Shahnaz that they would bring her safely back after the party was over and pay her for her services.

However, the 14-year-old did not return.  Mehwish is the oldest child of the family and after she went missing, her father Tanveer, went to the Muslim’s family’s house in desperation seeking for his daughter. However, she was nowhere to be found. The family told him that the girl was out for some work and he could not meet her.

After several failed attempts, 42-year-old Tanveer decided to bring the matter to local influential elders, but to no avail. Eventually on May 10, he got an FIR registered at Raza Abad police station against Umar Daraz, Muhammad Zahid and Mobeen Rehman, in the abduction of his daughter.

Shahnaz revealed that ever since the FIR was registered, the abductors started harassing and intimidating Tanveer to withdraw the police compliant. The father was reluctant to give up on his daughter and gave a supplementary statement to the police. In a crafty scheme, two of the respondents told Tanveer that they were willing to settle the dispute outside court, only if he would take his complaint back. Tanveer withdrew his complaint in the hope of his daughter’ return.

One day the abductors called him for a meeting, in order to settle the matter. But when Tanveer was on his way to meet the abductors, two unknown gunmen shot him dead on Jhang Road, in Thikriwala. An FIR was filed including murder charges against unknown gunmen, but nothing substantial has been done. Tanveer’s wife and three other daughters survive him.

Shahnaz and her three daughters are living in fear of possible retribution from the abductors. The family is now supported by relatives, but are forced to live in trepidation. “I want my daughter back. I want the perpetrators brought to justice. I have no money to buy food or continue the legal battle. I ask help from God’s people,” said Shahnaz.

“Several months after my daughter’s kidnapping, the police have not done anything because we have no money to defend our rights. We live in a hopeless situation, we need help. I pray that my daughter will continue to place hope and faith in Jesus Christ,” she explained.