News

Christian mother-of-three Shereen Naz has approached CLAAS for help after the suspected murder of her husband at the hands of extremist Muslims.

Nadeem Shaw had been a driver for the Avari Hotel in Lahore for the last twenty years but suffered ongoing persecution from Muslim colleagues.

Shereen said he often spoke of the hostile attitude of his Muslim colleagues and how they would always push him to convert and make him enter into discussions about Islam and Christianity that quickly became arguments.

In October 2009 the persecution intensified when the Muslim drivers threatened him with dire consequences unless he and his family embraced Islam. Nadeem didn’t take the threat seriously as they had often been aggressive to him in the past. 

His brother-in-law, who heads a ministry supporting Christians in Pakistan, advised him to leave his job because such discussions can be the starting place for serious accusations of blasphemy further down the road. 

Nadeem was worried about the financial impact of leaving his job and did not seek action against his colleagues but in his distress he applied for ten days of leave, from March 5th to 14th. During that time, Shereen said her husband spent all his time at home and never went out, nor did he discuss his work situation with anyone. He had only returned to work for one day, when he took urgent leave again on March 16th and again remained at home all day but did not speak about his work problems. 

According to Shereen, her husband received a phone call at around 4pm, following which he left the house in a hurry, saying that he had urgent work to take care of. He didn’t mention where he was going. 

At around 6.30pm, their eldest son Nauman received an anonymous phone call telling him that his father had been admitted to the Punjab Institute of Cardiology. When Nauman arrived at the hospital, he says three unknown men approached him with his father’s body. They threatened to kill Nauman and the rest of the family if he told anyone about his father’s death. They also warned him not to seek an autopsy on his father’s body. 

In October 2009 the persecution intensified when the Muslim drivers threatened him with dire consequences unless he and his family embraced Islam. Nadeem didn’t take the threat seriously as they had often been aggressive to him in the past.

His brother-in-law, who heads a ministry supporting Christians in Pakistan, advised him to leave his job because such discussions can be the starting place for serious accusations of blasphemy further down the road. 

Nadeem was worried about the financial impact of leaving his job and did not seek action against his colleagues but in his distress he applied for ten days of leave, from March 5th to 14th. During that time, Shereen said her husband spent all his time at home and never went out, nor did he discuss his work situation with anyone. He had only returned to work for one day, when he took urgent leave again on March 16th and again remained at home all day but did not speak about his work problems. 

According to Shereen, her husband received a phone call at around 4pm, following which he left the house in a hurry, saying that he had urgent work to take care of.  He didn’t mention where he was going. 

At around 6.30pm, their eldest son Nauman received an anonymous phone call telling him that his father had been admitted to the Punjab Institute of Cardiology. When Nauman arrived at the hospital, he says three unknown men approached him with his father’s body. They threatened to kill Nauman and the rest of the family if he told anyone about his father’s death. They also warned him not to seek an autopsy on his father’s body.