Christians in Pakistan have called for justice after a Catholic labourer was found dead, under suspicious circumstances.

Marqas Masih, 22, was found hanged at the farm where he worked, near the Punjab city of Sargodha.

His body was recovered from an outbuilding, and his family were told he had committed suicide. However, Masih’s relatives noticed marks on his body which suggested he was tortured and deliberately murdered.

Family who visited Mr Masih while he worked at the farm said they were subjected to anti-Christian hate speech, including the use of ‘Chura’, a derogatory word meaning filthy often used against Churchgoers. Masih was the only Christian labourer who worked there, making the comments even more targeted.

Aid to the Church in Need said police initially ignored the family’s requests for an investigation.

However, more than 100 local believers gathered to mourn and protest, carrying Masih’s body on a burial bed, known as a charpoy.

Following the outcry, police conducted a postmortem, which confirmed that there were abrasions to Masih’s hips and chest unexplained by his alleged cause of death.

Muhammad Bashrat, the farm landlord, who reported the death to Mr Masih’s family, and another man, named Mohammad Moshan have been arrested.

The National (Catholic) Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP), a Church-led advocacy organisation supported by Aid to the Church in Need, issued a statement calling for a government-led investigation.

“The authorities should not leave Christians to be treated as second-class citizens. We should be treated as equal citizens,” said the NCJP. “We demand a fully transparent investigation.”