MUMBAI, India – One Catholic was killed and a teenager was injured after gunmen attacked pilgrims in Pakistan.

Afzal Masih, a 42-year-old father of four, was the man killed in the van carrying 18 Catholic pilgrims to Pakistan’s largest Marian shrine near Lahore on September 7, 2025.

“We were about 12-13 people in the van, including women and young girls of our families, 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,” Aurangzeb Peter, a member of the traveling group, told Morning Star News.

“They also blocked our way by zigzagging their bikes in front of our van. Afzal Masih, sitting in the front seat, asked the assailants to stop harassing the women, and the Muslims stopped the van and pulled him out onto the road, they started beating him with fists and kicks and attacked us as well when we tried to rescue Afzal,” he said.

When the assailants noticed the posters and cross pasted on the vehicle and heard that all the passengers were Christians, they started using profanity against them.

“They also called us Chuhra [pejorative term used for Christians] and said how could we dare to call them out,” Peter told Morning Star News.

The attackers left and the pilgrims resumed their journey, but when they stopped at a gas station, the three Muslims suddenly appeared with weapons. One of them, later identified as Muhammad Waqas of Farooqabad, opened fire with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, shooting Masih in the neck and teenager Harris Masih in his right arm, Peter told the newspaper.

Farooqabad police in Sheikhupura registered a case against Waqas and his two unidentified accomplices but have failed to make any arrests, Peter added.

Pakistan, with a population of over 241 million, has a Muslim majority making up over 96 percent of the country. Christians are only 1.4 percent of the country, or 3.3 million people.

Security at the annual Marian festival, which drew about half a million attendees this year, was heightened with the deployment of 2,600 police officers and 600 volunteers.

The Marian shrine in Mariamabad, established in 1893, has become a national pilgrimage site. In recent years, security measures have been strengthened in response to ongoing threats. participants.

“It is an unfortunate incident,” Aftab Mughal, the Director of Minority Concern, told Crux.

“Thousands of people attend this national event as part of their spiritual journey to show reverence to the Virgin Mary. Afzal was also traveling with his group to take part in the gathering as an act of devotion,” he said.

“The incident has raised serious questions about the rise in violent crimes and terrorism in the country, and it has also sparked concerns about the safety of the Christian minority,” Mughal said.