According to local reports, two Christians, a mother and son, were killed in an incident of religious hatred in a village located in the Gujranwala district of Pakistan.

On Monday, November 9, Yasmeen Masih and her son, Usman, were shot dead by Hassan Shakoor, their Muslim neighbor. According to Sardar Masih, a relative of the deceased, the Christians were killed over a dispute that turned religious.

Weeks prior to the killings, Shakoor’s mother, Ishrat, blocked the sewer line coming from the Christians’ home. According to Sardar, the Muslim family did not like waste water flowing by their home from the house of an ‘untouchable’.

Due to widespread religious discrimination in Pakistan, Christians are often associated with untouchability. Offensive terms, like choora, are used by Pakistan’s Muslim population to denote this untouchable status for Christians.

On November 9, Ishrat called Yasmeen out of her house and started abusing her for unblocking the sewer line coming from the Christian home. During the dispute, Ishrat called her son, Hassan, who opened fire on Yasmeen. Usman, Yasmeen’s son, was caught in the cross fire as he tried to rescue his mother. Both Christians were shot multiple times and were killed on the scene.

First Information Report (FIR) 635/20 has been registered against Ishrat and Hassan at Ahmed Nagar police station. However, no arrests have been made to date.