A protest was held in Centenary Square after a Christian couple were murdered by fanatics in a village near Lahore.
People of Bradford, including Labour councillor for Bradford Moor Ghazanfer Khaliq, gathered to call attention to the vulnerable position of religious minority groups in the predominantly Muslim country: “the Pakistani government needs to make sure that the minorities are protected” the councillor said in an interview with Telegraph & Argus. “They should have equal rights – the same rights people have in this country (…) we wanted to show symbolically that we stand with that family."
The demonstration was organised by the Bradford branch of the South Asian People's Forum after details of the horrific deaths of Shehzad Masin, 26, and his five months pregnant wife Shaman, 24. The couple were beaten to death and burnt in a kiln, reportedly for “blasphemy against the Prophet.” Councillor Khaliq added: “It is important for us, living in an open and civilised society, to show how disgusted we are with the recent events.”
