Conger

Details of the kidnapping by the Taliban of the General Secretary of the Diocese of Peshawar have been released by the Church Mission Society (CMS).

Dr. Reginald Humayun Zaheeruddin, the medical superintendent of Pennell Memorial Hospital in Bannu and his driver were held for 26 days by Islamist militants along the Northwest Frontier after their car was stopped by the Taliban as they were was returning home from the town of Dera Ismail Khan on Dec 8.

At a village approximately 100km from Bannu, a vehicle cut across his path, and Dr. Zaheeruddin and his driver were bundled into the back of a car, blindfolded and covered with a sheet.

Threatened with death if they called out, the two men were taken blindfolded to an undisclosed site, chained in leg irons and locked in a dark cell. “The kidnappers unchained one foot of each man for a few minutes morning and evening to wash and relieve themselves, in the same room, causing an unbearable stench,” the CMS account said.

On the first Friday of his captivity a man entered the doctor’s cell and asked him to convert to Islam, but Dr. Zaheeruddin refused. The second week a Muslim priest came four or five times a day to preach and try to convert the captives.

His captives brought him out of his cell at one point, dressing him in a shalwar kameez and demanded that he convert to Islam. With video cameras rolling in anticipation of his profession of Islam, Dr. Zaheeruddin refused, protesting his faith in Jesus Christ. His captives responded that they would beat him and keep him locked up for life unless he relented. He refused and asked his captives what passage of the Koran permitted conversions by force.

Not having an answer to this question, the captives then demanded he write a ransom note to the hospital and diocese seeking £170,000 for his release. The doctor said there was no possibility such a sum could be raised but agreed to write the letter as dictated by his captives.

After he wrote the note, Dr. Zaheeruddin prayed the Lord would take his life rather than allow the hospital or the work of the church to be bankrupted by paying his ransom. “He also says that God gave him a repeated vision of a globe, which grew bigger with faces appearing on it, known and unknown, in thousands, praying for him,” the CMS reported.

Twenty six days after he was seized, his captives said they were releasing him. They took Dr. Zaheeruddin and his driver back to the car and allowed him to drive off—following the released prisoners “to the gates of the hospital” in Bannu.

Details of ransom payments or of the negotiations spearheaded by Bishop Mano Rumalsah of Peshawar to free Dr. Zaheeruddin are unknown. The doctor and his wife are presently touring Pakistan speaking to Christians about his ordeal, the CMS said.

Christian minorities in the Muslim world will suffer the consequences of the decision by 17 Danish newspapers to republish cartoon caricatures of the prophet Mohammad, the Church of Pakistan has warned.

Seventeen Danish newspapers, including the country’s three largest dailies, on Feb 13 republished a caricature of the prophet Mohammad that first appeared in the Jyllands-Posten in 2005.  The cartoon showed the head of the prophet Mohammad wearing a turban that contained a bomb with a burning fuse.  The September 2005 publication of 12 caricatures sparked protests from Islamists around the world and death threats against the cartoonists and the editor of the newspaper.

Last Wednesday the Danish newspapers reprinted the cartoon as a protest against censorship following the arrest of three Muslim men charged with conspiracy to murder cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, who drew the turban-bomb cartoon.

“Freedom of expression gives you the right to think, to speak and to draw what you like… no matter how many terrorist plots there are,” the conservative Berlingske Tidende wrote in an editorial, and urged “the Danish media to stand united against fanaticism.”

Support for Westergaard and the Jyllands-Posten crossed political lines, with the tabloid and left wing press joining the condemnation of the murder plot.  The leftist newspaper Politiken—which in 2005 had denounced publication of the cartoons—said the murder plot showed “there are fanatic Islamists who are ready to make good on their threats and there are people in this country who neither respect freedom of expression nor the law.”

Westergaard told one newspaper “with this drawing I wanted to show how fanatical Islamists or terrorists use religion as a kind of spiritual weapon.”

“I feel that I am fighting a righteous fight to defend freedom of expression, which is under threat,” he said.

However, the Moderator of the Church of Pakistan, Bishop Alexander Malik of Lahore on Feb 15 said reprinting the cartoons would damage Christian Muslim relations.  Church leaders also feared it could provoke a violent response.  Following the publication of the cartoons in 2005, mobs set fire to the Danish embassies in Damascus and Beirut and over one hundred people died in sectarian clashes in Nigeria and Pakistan.

“Prophets are regarded in great esteem in all religions and no amount of freedom of expression should have the right to ridicule them,” he said.

“Such acts hurt the sentiments of people and widens the gap between different faith communities instead of building bridges of understanding,” said Bishop Malik.

Pakistan’s Roman Catholic bishops have also denounced the Danish decision.

PAKISTAN has entered a ‘spiral of violence’, reports the Bishop of Raiwind and the short-term prospects for the country’s Christian minority are grim.

Bishop Samuel Azariah told The Church of England Newspaper on Monday that his country was in the midst of a political and economic meltdown, and urged the government of President Pervez Musharraf to restore the democracy and the rule of law.

In 2007, 50 suicide bombings killed 770 people, and civil unrest has left almost 3,500 dead. “The common belief amongst the people is that the bombings are the work of either Islamic extremists, belonging to al-Qaeda and the Taliban, or rogue elements close to the military establishment,” he said.

“Whoever is responsible for these heinous crimes, the intent is clearly to subvert through terror the democratic process in order to negate the will of the people,” Bishop Azariah said. The Musharraf government was engaged in counter-insurgency operations in Waziristan, the North West Frontier and in Swat and ‘right or wrong people believe that this is an American war and the Pakistan army is killing its own people at the call of the Americans,’ he said.

The war on terror had led to ‘much anger and hatred against the West’ and paradoxically to America and Britain being blamed for the country’s social and political ills. “This of course has repercussions on the Christians and the Church in Pakistan as we are considered a legacy of the West because of our colonial heritage,” he said.

The resulting political instability has ‘had an adverse impact on the economy’ with essential foodstuffs and commodities like wheat flour, sugar, petroleum in short supply. All of this has led to the government losing ‘all credibility’ and becoming ‘virtually crippled.’

The mood among the country’s political elite was that the forthcoming ‘elections will not be free and fair,’ and opposition leaders have called for President Musharraf to step down and form a national unity government.

“This, however, is unlikely to happen because the US-led Coalition and the Pakistan military establishment continue to support Musharraf. The US Administration is of the view that Musharraf is indispensable to the war on terror and Pakistani Generals are not ready to share power with civilians because over the years they have accumulated huge economic, commercial and political interests,” Bishop Azariah said.

“Human life is a gift of God,” he said. “As such violence and acts of terrorism against innocent civilians are a sin against God and are contrary to his values of peace, love, forgiveness and compassion. As people of faith we are committed to universally condemn all forms of violence, particularly the type that inflicts indiscriminate death and injury on civilians,” he said.

Pakistan was ‘passing through a very difficult period in its history’. Bishop Azariah asked for prayers for his country and to ask God to ‘bring our people consolation and invest in them the hope and courage to face up to the challenge of healing and reconciliation.’

FIVE Christian men kidnapped by the Taliban in Waziristan have been released unharmed. Sources in Peshawar tell The Church of England Newspaper the five were released on Jan 7 following negotiations with government and church
leaders.

An aide to Peshawar Bishop Mano Ramalshah, Mr Yaqub Sahotara, said the five had been seized by suspected Taliban insurgents while driving to Dera Ismail Khan near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan.

Taliban leader Baitullah Mahsud had demanded the release of six of his jailed lieutenants in return for the safe release of the Christians. It is not known what terms were agreed for the men’s release.

Mahsud has been named by the government of President Pervez Musharraf as the leader of the group that assassinated PakistanPeople’s Party (PPP) leader Benazir Bhutto.

The General Secretary of the Diocese of Peshawar has been freed unharmed 26 days after he and his driver were seized by kidnappers along Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier.

Dr. Reginald Humayun Zaheeruddin, the Medical Superintendent of Pennell Memorial Hospital in Bannu was returning home from the town of Dera Ismail Khan when suspected Taliban militants stopped his car, taking him prisoner.

While details of the negotiations to free Dr. Zaheeruddin remain unclear, the secretary to Bishop Mano Rumalshah (pictured) of Peshawar, Mr. Yaqub Sahotara reports the bishop had been working to secure the doctor’s release.

“Thankfully [Dr. Zaheeruddin] returned home after 26 days and we breathed a sigh of relief but it has been a traumatic experience for all of us,” Mr. Sahotara said.

While always precarious, the safety of Pakistan’s Christian minority has taken a perilous turn since the Dec 27 assassination of Benazir Bhutto. “Again yesterday [Jan 6] five Christians have been kidnapped in South Waziristan area,” he told The Church of England Newspaper.

Police suspect Taliban insurgents affiliated with Baitullah Mehsud of kidnapping the five men as they were driving to Dera Ismail Khan near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan. In return for freeing the five Pakistani Christians, the Taliban are demanding the release of six of Baitullah Mehsud’s lieutenants held by police.

Baitullah Mahsud has been named by the government of President Pervez Musharraf as the leader of the group that assassinated Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Benzair Bhutto.

Bishop Rafiq Masih of Hyderabad told CEN the murder of Benazir Bhutto was a “national tragedy” and “severe attack on the hope of a new democratic government.”

Christians had also come under threat in the Diocese of Hyderabad following the assassination, he reported. “Since we are serving in Sindh, which is surrounded by other small suburbs with heavy vote block of PPP, we ask your special prayers for us,” he said.

All Christians were united in “appeal and pray for the national harmony in Pakistan at this difficult time,” he said.

Proposals to expel foreign workers from the Persian Gulf states after six years’ residence are discriminatory and economically foolhardy, the Area Bishop of the Persian Gulf said this week.  The Rt. Rev. Azad Marshall, Bishop of Iran and Area Bishop for the Persian Gulf in the Church of Pakistan told The Church of England Newspaper that proposals by the Bahrain Labour Minister Majeed al-Alawi (pictured) for consideration by the Gulf States could effect upwards of 13 million expatriate workers living in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

The Gulf States fear that under international law foreign workers might claim government education, health and housing benefits, and be able to apply for citizenship after five year’s residency.  Over one million Filipinos work in Saudi Arabia, while in the UAE over 80 percent of the population consists of expatriate workers of whom almost a third are Christian.

“In some areas of the Gulf, you can’t tell whether you are in an Arab Muslim country or in an Asian district. We can’t call this diversity and no nation on earth could accept the erosion of its culture on its own land,” al-Alawi told the Gulf Daily News.

“The majority of foreign manpower in the region comes from different cultural and social backgrounds that cannot assimilate or adapt to the local cultures,” he said.

Bishop Marshall said Arabs traditionally have been known for their “warm hospitality which has helped create a model of congeniality among Arabs and Asians working together.”

“Many Arabs have created similar pockets of Arabs in some European cities,” he said adding that denying this right to Asian immigrants to the Arab world was unfair.  “In this age of global economy one should move with time towards reciprocity and acceptance.”

Bishop Marshall stated that unlike Europe or the US, guest workers in the Gulf can only live “in these countries for the tenure of their visas. They give their best years and skills to these countries, for jobs and money of course, but without any hope of ever becoming permanent visa holders, residents or citizens.”

Pakistan’s Christian community marked the sixtieth anniversary of independence with a march in Lahore last week and calls for a repeal of the country’s “blasphemy laws”.

The crowd, which organizers from the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) estimated at “tens of thousands,” delivered a 30-point petition on Aug 11 to the country’s Chief Justice calling for a return to the vision of a secular Pakistan articulated by the “Father of the Nation” Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

The leader of the opposition Pakistan People’s Party in the Punjab Provincial Assembly brought greetings from the national party leader Benazir Bhutto to the rally. The former prime minister expressed her support for the rally since “the country had never been in so great a need for a voice against religious intolerance and extremism.”

Roman Catholic speaker Fr Bonnie Mendes called upon the government to separate Islam from state. This is the “only way that we can make Pakistan the Pakistan of Quaid-e-Azam” [the Great Leader—Muhammad Ali Jinnah] Asia News reported.

The petition called for Jinnah’s words to the first session of Pakistan’s constituent assembly to be added to the nation’s constitution. “You are free. You are free to go to your temples. You are free to go to your mosques or to any other places of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion, caste or creed – that has nothing to do with the business of the State … We are starting with this fundamental principle, that we are all citizens and citizens of one state.”

Group Captain Cecil Chaudhry, Executive Secretary of APMA, told Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsees as well as moderate Muslims from across Pakistan attended the rally.

Benedict Rogers, CSW’s Advocacy Officer for South Asia, said: “Discrimination against minorities has been widespread for far too long in Pakistan. Such discrimination, hatred and persecution flies in the face of the vision that the nation’s founder, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, set out 60 years ago.

“This rally demonstrates that despite the rise of extremism, many people in Pakistan hold onto Jinnah’s vision for a nation which accepts its citizens equally, regardless of religious background,” he said.

Church leaders in Pakistan have condemned the award of a knighthood to author Salman Rushdie saying the government honour could provoke violence against Christians.The award was a “very bad decision” the general secretary of the National Council of Churches in Pakistan, Victor Azariah, told Ecumenical News International on June 28 as “such insensitive decisions will only worsen the anti-Christian feelings in the Muslim world.”

“Revenge attacks against Christians in Pakistan could take place like they did last year,” Fr Aftab James Paul, the director of the Roman Catholic National Commission for Interfaith Harmony and Ecumenism in Pakistan, told Asia News.

Reaction to the award has been fierce in Pakistan. “We deplore the decision of the British government to knight him,” a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said, while the lower house of parliament unanimously passed a government-backed resolution calling Rushdie a “blasphemer.”

Pakistan’s minister of religious affairs, Mohammed Ijaz ul-Haq, son of the late dictator General Zia ul-Haq, endorsed suicide bombing against Britain as a response. “If someone exploded a bomb on his body, he would be right to do so unless the British government apologizes and withdraws the ‘sir’ title.” He told the Pakistani parliament that “If someone commits suicide bombing to protect the honor of the Prophet Muhammad, his act is justified.”

The Foreign Office Other has issued a statement of “deep concern,” through its High Commissioner in Islamabad, but noted the minister’s threat will not harm a “very good relationship” with Pakistan and has not blocked a private visit by ul-Haq to Britain.

The death threats against Salman Rushdie bagan in 1989 when Ayatollah Khomeini issued a ‘fatwah’ stating that “the author of the book entitled The Satanic Verses - which has been compiled, printed, and published in opposition to Islam, the Prophet, and the Qur’an and all those involved in its publication who were aware of its content, are sentenced to death. I call on all zealous Muslims to execute them quickly.”

The death sentence remains in force. Last week Iran’s speaker of parliament, Gholamali Haddadadel, threatened that Muslims “will not leave this imprudent and shameless act without response,” while Iran’s Foreign Ministry Director for Europe, Ebrahim Rahimpour, was quoted as saying by the state-run IRNA news agency “this insulting, suspicious and improper act by the British government is an obvious example of fighting against Islam.”