Conger

Govt report blames Al Qaeda for Bhatti murder: The Church of England Newspaper, July 8, 2011 p 7. July 10, 2011

Shahbaz Bhatti

First published in The Church of England Newspaper.

Al-Qaeda terrorists murdered the Minister for Minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti, the Pakistani Ministry of the Interior has concluded.

Theories the sole Christian in Pakistan’s cabinet was murdered in a personal dispute unrelated to his faith have been dismissed by the government, the dead man’s brother Paul Bhatti reports.

The investigation is now focused on an al-Qaeda cell in Pakistan known as “Brigade 313” led by Taliban leader Ilyas Kashmiri.

On 2 March, Mr Bhatti, a 42-year-old Roman Catholic, was leaving his home when a gunman sprayed his car with 20 bullets. He died while being transported to the Shifa Hospital in Islamabad. The government minister was usually accompanied by security guards, but he had told them that day not to accompany him.

Last year Mr Bhatti told a public meeting “when I’m leading this campaign against the Sharia laws and for the abolishment of the blasphemy law and speaking for the oppressed and for the persecuted Christians and other minorities, these Taliban threaten me.

“I’m ready to die for a cause. I’m living for my community and suffering people and I will die to defend their rights,” said Mr Bhatti, the chairman of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance. “I will prefer to die for my principles and for the justice of my community rather to compromise.”

Speaking to the Fides news service Paul Bhatti said the investigations into his brother’s murder were “finally on the right track: it is the work carried out by the Taliban and Islamic fanatics. Now we are waiting for the capture of the perpetrators of the crime, who are in Dubai.”

Minister of Interior Rehman Malik has issued a warrant for the killers and is seeking the assistance of the Dubai government to round up the accused.

The Commission of Inquiry set up by the Interior Ministry concluded that Brigade 313 contracted the killing out to a Taliban leader in the Punjab, who used members of the ‘Tehrik-e-Islami’ and a faction of the ‘Ghazi Force in Islamabad’ to kill the minorities minister, Mr Bhatti said.

“After the sidetracking of the inquiry and attempts of reducing the charge of murder due to personal enmity, slinging mud at my brother, the truth is emerging: we were convinced that he was killed for his commitment to human rights, the rights of Christians, for the brave denunciation against the blasphemy law,” he said.

“Now the investigation proves us right. We are hoping for a rapid conclusion, with the capture of the perpetrators of the crime. It would be a good sign for the health of the state of law in Pakistan,” Mr Bhatti said.

Islamists call off Bible ban threat: The Church of England Newspaper, June 24, 2011 p 8. June 25, 2011

Sami ul-Haq

First published in The Church of England Newspaper.

Christian rights groups have praised the decision by an Islamic political party to back down from its threat to petition the Pakistan Supreme Court to ban the Bible under the provisions of the country’s blasphemy laws.

On 13 June, Sami ul-Haq, leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Assembly of Islamic Clergy, or JUI-S), told reporters he had censured a lieutenant for demanding the ban.

In a 30 May press conference in Lahore, a top leader of the JUI-S, Abdul Rauf Farooqui, told a press conference that lawyers for his party were preparing a petition asking the Supreme Court to ban the Bible as passages from Genesis, Exodus, I Kings, 2 Samuel, and the Gospel of Matthew were “immoral” and “pornographic.”

Passages from the Old Testament, including Genesis 19:33-36’s portrayal of the drunkenness of Lot and his daughters; the story of David and Bathsheba from 2 Samuel, and Jesus’ rebuke of Peter from Matthew 26 “strongly offend Muslims, who hold all prophets and holy books in high esteem as part of religious belief and never even think of committing any blasphemy against them,” Mr Farooqui said.

The Church of Pakistan’s Bishop of Lahore, the Rt Rev Alexander Malik denounced Farooqui’s petition. Banning the Bible would violate the religious freedoms guaranteed by Pakistan’s constitution, the Bishop said, and would serve only to inflame sectarian tensions.

However, Sami ul-Haq last week told reporters he had reprimanded Farooqui for his comments. “We believe in religious solidarity; I enquired with the person who demanded banning the Holy Bible. All Muslims are obliged to respect Divine books but this also goes for the followers of other religions”, he said.

Called the “Father of the Taliban” by the Jamestown Foundation, a Washington DC think tank, ul-Haq is the director and chancellor of Pakistan’s Darul uloom Haqqania madrassa. The Islamist seminary educated many of the top Taliban leaders, including its fugitive chief, Mullah Omar and is widely believed to have served as the “launching pad for the Taliban movement in the early 1990s” the Jamestown Foundation reports.

Release International, which had led protests against the Bible ban in the West, welcomed the news. But its chairman, Andy Dipper said the “call to ban the Bible in the first place reveals just how precarious the situation has become for Pakistan’s Christian minority.”

“Intolerance towards non-Muslims appears to be intensifying – reflected in the assassinations of senior figures calling for the reform of the blasphemy laws. Moderate Muslims often say there must be no coercion in religion. Pakistan’s Islamic extremists must take that message to heart,” Mr Dipper said.

“Intolerance towards non-Muslims appears to be intensifying – reflected in the assassinations of senior figures calling for the reform of the blasphemy laws. Moderate Muslims often say there must be no coercion in religion. Pakistan’s Islamic extremists must take that message to heart,” Mr. Dipper said.

Islamists call for Bible ban in Pakistan: The Church of England Newspaper, June 10, 2011 p 6. June 14, 2011

Bishop Alexander Malik of Lahore

First published in The Church of England Newspaper.

An Islamist political party has asked Pakistan’s Supreme Court to ban the Bible under the provisions of that country’s Blasphemy Laws, arguing the Christian Scriptures defame the moral reputation of the Patriarchs and Jesus.

In a May 30 press conference in Lahore, a leader of the Sami ul Haq faction of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Assembly of Islamic Clergy, or JUI-S) Maulana Abdul Rauf Farooqi, said certain passages from Genesis, Exodus, I Kings, 2 Samuel, and the Gospel of Matthew were “immoral” and “pornographic.”

These passages “strongly offend Muslims, who hold all prophets and holy books in high esteem as part of religious belief and never even think of committing any blasphemy against them,” Mr. Farooqui said.

The Islamist leader’s objections focused on Genesis 19:33-36, the drunkenness of Lot and his daughters; Genesis 29:23 ff, Laban’s tricking Jacob by exchanging Leah for Rachel on the night of their wedding; Genesis 38:18, Judah and Tamar; Exodus 32:2-6, Aaron’s fashioning of the golden calf at Sinai; I Kings 13:2-29, Jeroboam and the prophets; 2 Samuel 11:2–27, David and Bathsheba; 2 Samuel 13:1–22 the rape of Tamar by Amnon; Matthew 16:23, Jesus’ rebuke of Peter … “Get thee behind me Satan”; and Matthew 26:14–47, the Last Supper.

A member of Pakistan’s senate, Farooqi has been tied to the Taliban by the Pakistani press and is also the chancellor of the Darul Uloom Haqqania, a Deobandi Islamic seminary that has trained a number of Taliban leaders.

The JUI-S’s protestations are not solely prurient, but are tied to the recent flap over the burning of the Koran by Florida pastor Terry Jones.  “Our lawyers are preparing to ask the court to ban the book,” Farooqui said, adding the JUI-S “will not follow in the footsteps of Terry Jones and burn the holy book.”

Church leaders in Pakistan tell The Church of England Newspaper they do not expect the courts to affirm the petition, but worry this latest anti-Christian move is the start of a new round of persecution by fanatics.

The Church of Pakistan’s Bishop of Lahore, the Rt. Rev. Alexander Malik denounced Faqooqui’s petition.  Banning the Bible would violate the religious freedoms guaranteed by Pakistan’s constitution, the bishop said, and would serve only to inflame sectarian tensions.

Christian human rights activist, Bruce Bhatti, told the Minorities Concern of Pakistan, “It is a dangerous move, and this demand is based on hate. It is totally against the human values and will further promote religious intolerance in the country where Christians have been persecuted because of their faith.”

Fair play for Pakistani Christians petition presented: The Church of England Newspaper, Jan 21, 2011 p 1. January 25, 2011

Bishop Michael Nazir Ali, Pakistan High Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hasan and Andy Dipper of Release International speaking to the press outside the Pakistani High Commission in London. Photo: Release International

First published in The Church of England Newspaper.

A petition bearing 51,000 signatures has been presented to the Pakistan High Commissioner calling for fair treatment for the country’s religious minorities.

On Jan 13, the former Bishop of Rochester, the Rt. Rev. Michael Nazir Ali, and the CEO of Release International, Andy Dipper met with Mr. Wajid Shamsul Hasan in London urging his government to protect the country’s embattled Christian minority.

The hand over came as Christians gathered outside of the High Commission in Lowndes Square in Knightsbridge to pray for the Pakistani government and for jailed Christians—including Asia Bibi, a mother of five sentenced to death for blasphemy.

Release International reported the High Commissioner came out of the embassy to welcome those taking part in the vigil.  ‘We share your concerns, and we will do our utmost in the best possible way to provide security for the minorities and to alleviate their sufferings,” Mr. Hasan said.

The High Commissioner denounced the recent murder of the Governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, saying he had been killed for “defending the right of a member of the minority. We will not surrender to such blackmail, we will fight them and we will eliminate them.”

Pakistan was in the “forefront of the war against terrorism,” the high commissioner said.

“It’s a war against those who abuse Islam, who declare themselves Muslims but are not. They are in my personal view more or less pagans, who have no consideration for human life,” Mr. Hasan said.

Bishop Nazir Ali stated that in addition to handing over the petition, he and Mr. Dipper had an “in-depth discussion of the legal and social situation in Pakistan” with Mr. Hasan.

They discussed “what can be done to ease the lot, not only of minorities, but of other people from the majority community who are in danger from some of these discriminatory laws,” the bishop said.

Call to abolish blasphemy law: CEN 11.06.09 p 6. November 12, 2009

The Church of Pakistan has called upon its government to repeal the nation’s blasphemy laws, saying the legislation designed to protect the integrity of Islam was being used to persecute Christians for financial and political gain.

In a statement released following a meeting of its Executive Committee on Oct 21, the Church of Pakistan said the recent spate of attacks on Christians “has raised yet again the whole issue of the status and security of the religious minorities in an overwhelmingly Islamic country like Pakistan.”

Citing the July 31 attack on Gojra, where 10 Christians were killed by mob of Muslim militants, the Church of Pakistan said its members were “victimized under the false pretext of either having desecrated the Holy Quran or insulting the holy Prophet of Islam.”

“Such cases have become rampant during the recent decades as the Pakistani society has become increasingly intolerant of fellow Pakistanis, based on their religious identity,” they said.

The Blasphemy Law was being “blatantly and maliciously abused for the harassment and marginalization of Christians” and “almost all such cases arise out of personal disputes and malice or to gain some political points or even for some sinister covert operations,” they said.

They urged the government to repeal the Blasphemy Law, and introduce safeguards for the country’s minority communities. “We strongly demand of the Political Parties to resist all temptations to use the ‘religion card’ for political gains and instead use their influence and network to foster peace and harmony among all communities,” they said

Muslim mob attacks Pakistani Christians for a fourth time: CEN 9.21.09 September 22, 2009

First published in The Church of England Newspaper. A Muslim mob torched a church and the homes of a number of Christians in the Punjab last week, following claims that local Christians had committed blasphemy by desecrating the Koran. The Sept 11 attack in the village of Sambrial, approximately 20 miles west of the city of Sialkot near Pakistan’s border with Kashmir, marks the fourth time in two months that Muslim mobs have attacked Christian neighbourhoods over alleged insults to the Koran, reports Aftab Mughal of Minorities Concern of Pakistan.

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani have condemned the attack and have asked Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to investigate the incident. Press reports from Pakistan report that President Zardari has called for calm, and promised the government would rebuild the church.

However, the Church of Pakistan’s Bishop of Sialkot and other Christian leaders have called upon the government to track down and arrest those responsible for the sectarian attacks.

Local press reports have presented conflicting accounts of the attack. Muslim leaders claim that a 15-year-old Muslim girl returning home from a Koran class at a mosque was accosted by five Christian boys. The boys allegedly stole her Koran and threw it into a ditch.

The police, however, say the girl dropped her Koran and was teased for her clumsiness by a Christian boy. The girl complained to her mother, whom police claim shouted at the boys for insulting the Koran. The cry was taken up by the local imam. Using a loudspeaker to address worshippers at Friday prayers, he called upon the village’s 100 Muslim families to exact revenge on the 30 Christian families. A mob gathered at the mosque and marched to the church, set it and two adjacent homes on fire.

Politicians representing Punjab’s Muslim political parties have demanded the police arrest the Christian boys for blasphemy, while the Pakistan Press Association (PPI), stated Bishop Samuel Pervaiz of Sialkot and Pastor Javaid Silvestre demanded the government intervene and protect the Christian minority and arrest the arsonists.

The National Commission for Justice and Peace reported that in the last fortnight two similar incidents have taken place in the Punjab. A three-day anti-Christian pogrom last month left 10 Christians dead and destroyed over 100 homes in the town of Gojra.

Fighting began on July 30 in the village of Koriyan after a Christian wedding. As confetti was tossed over the bride and groom as they left the church, local Islamists took offence, claiming the shredded paper had come from pages of the Koran. Rocks were thrown and a fight ensued, leading to the burning of several Christian homes.

The following day members of the banned extremist Muslim organization, Sipah-e-Sahaba, gathered near the railway station in Gojra and marched towards the Christian quarter of the town, and began throwing petrol bombs and shooting at the fleeing Christians. Ten Christians were killed either by the gunfire or were burned to death by the mob in their homes.

Bishop Pervaiz and other Christian leaders in Sialkot called on the government to amend the Blasphemy Laws, which they claim foster sectarian violence. On Sept 8 the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams gave his endorsement to a petition to change the blasphemy legislation in Pakistan presented to the Pakistan High Commissioner in London.

The Bishop of Clogher, the Rt Rev Michael Jackson, chairman of the Network for Inter Faith Concerns (NIFCON) of the Anglican Consultative Council and Dr Musharraf Hussain, chairman of the Christian Muslim Forum, initiated the online petition in response to the Gojra attack.

The attacks on Christians “have frequently been associated with false accusations of blasphemy or desecration of the Koran which have been used to stir up mob violence. The law on blasphemy has provided a ready excuse for those who are motivated to use it for their own ends,” the petition said.

The petition called upon “the political and religious leadership of Pakistan to unite in condemning these attacks and murders in the strongest terms as an evil and a crime.”

Police issue warrant for Bishop: CEN 8.26.09 August 26, 2009

First published in The Church of England Newspaper. Punjabi police have issued warrants for the arrest of the Bishop of Faisalabad and 128 other Christians, charging them with conspiracy in the July 31 assault by Islamic militants on Gojra. The First Information Reports or FIRs were filed this week by the Punjabi police against the Rt. Rev. John Samuel (pictured with Archbishop Chew of Singapore), the Church of Pakistan’s Bishop of Faisalabad and 28 other Christians, in retaliation for complaints of police incompetence in the wake of the attacks on Christians in the town of Gojra that left ten dead and destroyed three churches and over 100 homes. FIRs have also been registered against 100 unnamed Pakistani Christians charging them as co-conspirators in the attacks.

Local human rights activists have denounced the police action telling AsiaNews, “It is a revenge move by agents and district administration against the Christian victims of the accidents in Gojra.”

The three day anti-Christian pogrom began on July 30 in the village of Koriyan following a church wedding. Following local customs, confetti was tossed over the bride and groom as they left the church—however, local Islamists took offence saying the shredded paper had come from pages of the Koran. Rocks were thrown and a fight ensued leading to the burning of several Christian homes.

The following day members of the banned extremist Muslim organization, Sipah-e-Sahaba, gathered near the railway station in Gojra and marched towards the Christian quarter of the town, and began throwing petrol bombs and shooting at the fleeing Christians. Ten Christians were killed either by the gunfire or were burned to death by the mob in their homes.

In the days preceding the violence, the Punjabi police were warned of an impending action by the Sipah-e-Sahaba—who through a radical splinter group, the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, are linked to the Taliban and al-Qaeda. During the attacks the police are alleged to have stood aside as the banned terrorist group destroyed the Christian quarter of the town.

“All the world knows about this incident very well, what the Islamic terrorists have done with the Christian community in my diocese and even in my city,” Bishop Samuel told The Church of England Newspaper in an email on Aug 26.

“Instead of arresting those responsible for this incident, the police have registered the F.I.R. against 29 nominated and 100 un-nominated people. My name and the name of my both sons are also included in those 29 names,” he said.

“We have again become the victims,” the bishops said, stating he had sent his family away from Gojra but would remain in the town and was ready to be “prosecuted for the glory and for the work of Jesus Christ.”

“I daily receive threats through phone calls from unknown numbers,” he said, and reported this to the police. However, the police are “not paying attention to us and they are just favouring the persons who are responsible” for the attacks.

Bishop Samuel has urged Christians around the world to “please pray for us and also do something for my family because we are in great trouble.”

Shock at ‘deadliest attack on Christians’: CEN 8.14.09 p 1. August 20, 2009

Funerals for the victims of the anti-Christian pogrom in Pakistan began last week, with over 500 people packing Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Gojra for services for the seven Catholic victims of the violence.

Three members of the Church of Pakistan and seven Catholics were killed on Aug1 by a Muslim mob in Gojra in Faisalabad province in the Eastern Punjab. Reports from Pakistan emailed to The Church of England Newspaper along with press accounts indicate the violence began on July 30 at a Christian wedding in the village of Koriyan, near Gojra.

As the newly married couple left the church, guests tossed flowers, rice, slips of paper with words of prayer or encouragement and confetti onto the new couple according to local custom. Muslim on-lookers accused those tossing the confetti of having shredded a Koran, violating law 295 which criminalizes blasphemy for those who offend Islam, the Koran or Mohammed.

Since 1986, accusations of blasphemy for offending Islam have been lodged against 982 Pakistani Christians—with 25 killed by Muslim vigilantes defending the honor of their faith, according to data collected by Minorities Concern of Pakistan. The accusations of shredding a Koran led to stones being thrown. A fight ensued, and houses set ablaze.

On Aug 1, violence erupted when eight buses packed with masked and armed Islamic militants from outside the area, entered the neighboring Christian town of Gojra. The militants began chanting anti-Christian slogans, accusing the Pakistani Christians of being in league with America and enemies of Islam.

The sounds of the chanting mob alerted most of the residents of the town to the danger, and when the mob began to spray houses with gasoline, setting them alight, most of the residents had already fled. Seven of the dead died in the fires while three were shot to death, 68 homes were destroyed along with a Church of Pakistan church and an independent church.

Speaking to the congregation at the catholic funeral for seven members of the Hamid family, the Church of Pakistan’s Bishop John Samuel of Faisalabad said “while we believe those killed for their faith go to heaven, there are those who kill others for the promise of heaven.”

“Only the Word of God can bring comfort to our heavy hearts,” he said according to an account of the service given by the Union of Catholic Asian News (UCAN).

The pastor of Sacred Heart Catholic Church Fr. Shafique Hadayat told the congregation at the close of the service the dead had not died in vain. The Aug 1 attack on Gojra was the “deadliest attack on Christians in the history of this country,” he said.

But “their blood will not be wasted,” he said and would mobilize public opinion to bring an end to Pakistan’s Blasphemy Law.

Church leaders condemn deadly Pakistan rampage: CEN 8.07.09 p 6. August 10, 2009

The Archbishop of Canterbury has joined the Pope and other Christian leaders in denouncing Friday’s attack on a Christian village in Pakistan by a Muslim mob that left 9 dead and destroyed over 40 homes.

On Aug 4, Dr. Rowan Williams stated the “recent atrocities against Christians in Pakistan will sear the imaginations of countless people of all faiths throughout the world. As the minister of law in the Punjab has already said, such actions are not the work of true Muslims: they are an abuse of real faith and an injury to its reputation as well as an outrage against common humanity, and deserve forthright condemnation.”

Dr. Williams stated Pakistan’s 2.8 million Christians were a “small and vulnerable minority, generally with little political or economic power.” He urged the government of President Asif Ali Zardari to “spare no efforts, not only in seeing that justice is done in the wake of these terrible events, but also in continuing to build a society in which all faiths are honoured and in which the most vulnerable can be assured of the protection of the law and the respect of their fellow-citizens.”

On Monday Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone stated Pope Benedict XVI had called “on everyone to renounce the violence that has caused so much suffering and start working towards peace.”

The pope offered his condolences to the families of the dead and urged Pakistan to build a country were all faith communities displayed a “mutual respect” for one another.

In an email from Karachi, Bishop Ijaz Inayat reported that over 100 houses had been looted and 40 burned in the communal violence in the town of Gojra in the Punjab. Nine Christians had died—seven in the fires and two from gunshot wounds.

“This all started about 12’ o clock [Friday] when thousands of Muslims gathered near the railway station and marched towards the Christian town area where over two thousand Christian families have been housed for over fifty years,” he wrote.

“On reaching the neighborhood some two hundred persons hiding their faces with clothes opened fire on the Christian houses instantly killing on person named Inayat Masih and injuring others. Most of the people fled to save their lives, yet some unlucky got trapped inside their homes and were burnt,” Bishop Inayat said.

The police are alleged to have taken no action to stop the attacks, while the fire services were prevented from reaching the town by the mob, the bishop said.

Press reports from Pakistan indicate the government has blamed outside agitators linked to Al Qaida for the attacks and will compensate the victims of the attack and launch an investigation in to the local government’s handling of the affair.

Anti-Christian violence erupts: CEN 5.07.09 p 6. May 12, 2009

Paramilitary troops are patrolling the streets of Karachi following a week of sectarian and political violence that has shut down much of the city. In an April 30 email to The Church of England Newspaper Bishop Ijaz Inayat reports “it is yet another sad day in Pakistan as over thirty persons were killed in violent clashes in different areas of Karachi and over 24 vehicles set ablaze, even houses and shops in big numbers set on fire.”

Clashes between Muhajirs, Muslims who migrated to Pakistan from India following the 1947 partition, and ethnic Pashtuns have killed over two dozen people, while Christians have taken to the streets to protest attacks on churches and members of their community.

Anti-Christian violence erupted when pro-Taliban militants tried to prevent local Christians from removing graffiti on their church that demanded Christians convert to Islam or pay jiziya, the poll tax levied on non-Muslim minorities living under Islamic rule as sanctioned by Sharia, the Daily Times reported on April 23.

When the police arrived to break up the fighting between Christians and Muslims, they turned their guns on the Christians, Bishop Inayat reported, shooting three men.

Michael Javaid, a former member of the Sindh Provincial Assembly, told the ANS news service Christians were afraid as a sizable number of Taliban had entered the city “in an attempt to press their demands of enforcing Sharia Justice System” in the city.

“I fear the Taliban will start demanding minority tax from Pakistani Christians too,” he added.

Last month the Taliban began demolishing the homes of members of the Sikh community in the Ferozkhel area of Orakzai Agency along the North West Frontier after the Sikhs failed to make a 15 million rupees jiziya payment to the Taliban. Taliban militants had demanded 50 million rupees, holding local Sikh leader Sardar Saiwang Singh captive and occupying a number of Sikh-owned houses until the minority community complied, the ANI news service said.

The imposition of the poll-tax on non-Muslims and increased violence has led many Sikhs, Hindus and Christians to flee Taliban controlled areas. The government is continuing its military operations against the Taliban, but the militants last week took control of the town of Buner, less than sixty miles from the capital of Islamabad.

On April 29, US President Barack Obama stated he was “gravely concerned about the situation in Pakistan.” He said, “I’m … concerned that the civilian government there right now is very fragile.”

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari said his country was facing a “critical hour.”

“The time has come for the entire nation to give pause to their political differences and rise to the occasion and give full support to our security forces,” he said in a statement released on April 29.