Catholics making a pilgrimage in Pakistan were attacked by Muslims on Sunday, leaving one person dead.
The attack in Punjab Province left one person wounded, according to Morningstar News.
Afzal Masih was killed after armed Muslims halted a van as it traveled to a Feast of the Nativity of Mary shrine, according to Aurangzeb Peter, a member of the group.
“We were about 12-13 people in the van, including women and young girls of our families,” Peter said.
“When we were on the Sheikhupura highway at around 1:30 a.m., three Muslim youths riding two motorcycles started teasing and catcalling our women passengers. They also blocked our way by zigzagging their bikes in front of our van,” he said.
Masih demanded that the Muslims stop harassing the women, Peter said. The young men responded by forcing the van to stop. Then they hauled Masih out of the van onto the road.
“They started beating him with fists and kicks and attacked us as well when we tried to rescue Afzal,” Peter said.
“They also called us Chuhra [a pejorative term used for Christians] and said how could we dare to call them out,” Peter said.
Although the assailants allowed the van to leave, after first deriding the Catholics for their faith, they again confronted them, this time with weapons, when the van stopped at a gas station.
Masih was shot in the neck, killing him instantly. Passenger Harris Masih was wounded in his right arm, Peter said.
Christian attorney Kashif Nemat, head of the Good Samaritan Society for Development and Rehabilitation, said the attack was religiously motivated.
“This incident is clearly an act of persecution on the basis of the victim’s religious identity,” Nemat said.
“The other passengers who witnessed the gruesome attack on Afzal and Harris told us that they had covered their van with posters of the pilgrimage and cross signs which clearly identified them as Christians. Afzal had only stopped the assailants from teasing the women passengers, which offended them to the extent that they not only tortured him but returned with guns to kill him,” he said.
Afzal Masih, a 42-year-old Catholic and father of four, was killed, and a teenager injured when unidentified gunmen opened fire on a van carrying 18 pilgrims to Pakistan’s largest Marian shrine near Lahore on September 7, 2025.#shalomworldnews #Catholic #pilgrim #Pakistan pic.twitter.com/3LnBaqcw1s
— Shalom World News (@shalomworldnews) September 8, 2025
“This is not just an isolated crime,” Pastor Imran Amanat of LEAD Ministries Pakistan, a Christian advocacy group, said, according to the Pakistan Christian Post.
“It reflects a growing pattern of hate against peaceful Christians exercising their constitutional right to religious freedom,” he said.
Sardar Mushtaq Gill, a human rights lawyer who founded LEAD Ministries, called for government action.
“We demand justice for Afzal Masih’s family and immediate protection for Christians across Pakistan, especially during religious events like the Mariamabad pilgrimage,” Gill said.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
The post Catholic Pilgrims Targeted by Muslims in Deadly Ambush: Report appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.