”A Little Christian Slave Is Murdered in Pakistan,” headlines L’Osservatore Romano in Italian on July 16, 2019, on the front page.
“Horror in Pakistan, an 11-year-old Christian child was beaten to death by his Muslim employer for a debt of about one euro,” explains the Vatican’s daily.
The newspaper specifies: “The murder took place at Faisalabad, in the State of Punjab, among the densest Christian areas of the country. The child’s name was Badal Masih and he worked as a rubbish collector in the rubbish dump belonging to Ifran Kalu. That he “worked” is a euphemism, because in reality the child was practically reduced to slavery.”
L’Osservatore Romano quotes AsiaNews: “Badal was paid a few centimes per day: around 100 rupees, which is equivalent to 0.56 euros. The child had asked his employer for a loan of 180 rupees — that is, slightly more than a euro — for certain necessary expenses of his family. The man gave him the money but he then wanted it back immediately.”
“At that moment, Badal went home and borrowed 150 rupees from his mother and returned to the rubbish dump to reimburse the debt. Then he said to Kalu that he would no longer work for him. “The child’s “affront” exasperated the man, who hit him on the head until he died. The murderer is on the run,” recounts L’Osservatore Romano, with no comment.
