[Note] 'Ahmadi place of worship' is a code word for the Ahmadiyya Muslim mosques. Inside Pakistan this writers is restricted by law from using the word 'mosques' when writing in relation to Ahmadis.
Source/Credit: The News | Pakistan
By Sabir Shah | March 16, 2013
Nearly 2.2 billion Christians across the globe, 37.5 per cent of whom live in North and South America and 25.7 per cent of whom reside in Europe, are today wary of the treatment meted out to the followers of Jesus Christ and readers of the Holy Bible in most parts of the Muslim world, though they are also distressed over the state of affairs in non-Muslim countries like India.
While the followers of the world’s largest religion, are visibly rattled over the recent Joseph Colony disaster in Lahore where an unruly mob had set ablaze the houses of the Christians, besides reducing their belongings to mere ashes, they are yet to erase the memories of a six-month old incident when the prayer leader of an Islamabad mosque was arrested by police on charges of fabricating the evidence that he had used to accuse a 14-year old Christian girl Rimsha Masih of blasphemy.
Just to recall, in September 2012, poor Rimsha Masih could have faced a death penalty for allegedly desecrating the Quran, but a timely testimony from an eye-witness in her favour and against the prayer leader has saved her from going to the gallows.
We all know that non-Muslim minorities like the Hindus, Ahmadis and Sikhs etc and have already voiced grave concern, and so have their sympathizers in the US and Europe, over the failure of successive Pakistani regimes to protect the rights of minorities in a country where over 2.9 million followers of seven different faiths, besides Islam, are living together.
These minorities comprise more than three per cent of all Pakistanis having national identity cards.
The break-up of religious minorities in Pakistan shows that the Hindu community is the largest with 1.4 million followers. Christians are second on this list with 1.27 million followers.
Then, there are 125,681 Ahmadis or Qadiyanis, over 33,000 Baha’is, 6,146 Sikhs and over 4,000 Zoroastrians or Parsees.
Meanwhile, no fewer than 1,500 Pakistani citizens have classified themselves as Buddhists.
The history of persecution of Christians in Pakistan is not very old. Just 15 years ago, a Christian Ayub Masih was the first to be convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death.
Ayub was accused by a neighbour of stating that he supported British writer Salman Rushdie, author of “The Satanic Verses.”
Though the lower court had upheld Ayub’s conviction, his lawyer was able to prove before the Pakistan Supreme Court that the accuser had used the conviction to force Masih’s family off their land and then acquired control of the property. Masih was resultantly released.
Since 9/11, a time period that has seen dozens of millions of Muslims slating the United States and its European allies for killing and suppressing Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan etc, attacks against Christians and other minorities have significantly increased in the Muslim world. And Pakistan is no exception.
While terrorists have repeatedly been blaming these minorities of supporting the United States and its European allies, ordinary Muslims have been screaming worldwide against what they dub “an anti-Islam killing spree” led by the United States and the European nations.
Here follows the chronology of a few major post 9/11 terrorism incidents against Christians and other non-Muslim minorities in Pakistan:
On October 28, 2001, an attack on a Protestant church in Bahawalpur had resulted in 16 deaths. The casualties were all Christian worshippers except a cop.
This was the worst-ever attack on Pakistani Christians till that time.
On February 22, 2002, an American journalist Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered in Karachi. This incident had no link with religious narrow mindedness.
On March 17 the same year, an attack on a Protestant church in Islamabad’s Diplomatic Enclave killed five, including a US diplomat’s wife and daughter.
On May 8, a bomb in Karachi killed 11 Frenchmen and three Pakistanis near the Sheraton Hotel, though this incident cannot be linked to religious bigotry.
On June 14, a car bomb exploded near the US Consulate in Karachi, killing 12. The outer wall of the consulate was blown apart. This, of course, was a backlash of the US-led war on terror.
On August 9, three nurses—and an attacker—were killed in an attack on a church in Taxila’s Christian Hospital.
In August 2002, gunmen stormed a Christian missionary school for foreigners in Islamabad, killing six.
On September 25, a Christian welfare organization “Peace and Justice Institute” was attacked in Karachi. The attackers tied seven office workers to their chairs before shooting each in the head.
On December 25, assailants threw a grenade at a Presbyterian church near Sialkot, killing three young girls on Christmas.
On February 28, 2003, two cops were shot dead outside the United States Consulate in Karachi.
On October 7, 2005, eight Ahmadis were killed inside their Mandi Bahauddin place of worship.
In November 2005, Roman Catholic, Salvation Army and United Presbyterian churches were attacked at Sangla Hill (near Lahore). The attack was over allegations of violation of blasphemy laws by a local Christian, Yousaf Masih.
On March 2, 2006, a car bomb attack near the US Consulate in Karachi killed four people including a US diplomat, a day before President George Bush was to reach Pakistan.
On June 5, 2006, a Pakistani Christian, Nasir Ashraf, was working near Lahore when he drank water from a public facility. He was assaulted by the locals for his ‘sin.’ A mob developed and thrashed Ashraf.
In August 2007, a Christian missionary couple, Reverend Arif and Kathleen Khan, were gunned down in Islamabad.
On March 15, 2008, a bomb was hurled at a wall of an Islamabad restaurant. It killed a Turkish woman. Four of the 12 people wounded in the bombing were reportedly FBI agents.
On June 2, 2008, the Danish embassy in Islamabad was attacked with a car bomb, killing six people. A post purportedly from al-Qaeda appeared on the Internet a day after the attack and mentioned the publication of “insulting drawings” by a Danish newspaper and its refusal to “apologise for publishing them.”
In August 2009, six Christians were burnt alive and a church set ablaze in Gojra for allegedly desecrating the Quran.
On February 22, 2010, two Sikhs were kidnapped in the tribal belt. They were later beheaded by their abductors.
On May 28, 2010, two Ahmadi worship places[*] in Lahore’s Garhi Shahu and Model Town localities were attacked, killing around 100 people.
On September 3, 2010, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside an Ahmadi worship place in Mardan, killing himself and an Ahmadi.
On November 8, 2010, a Christian woman, Aasia Noreen, was given death by court for being blasphemous. The accusation stemmed from a 2009 incident in which she reportedly entered into an argument after offering water to thirsty Muslim farmers, who accused her of blasphemy.
Aasia was visited in jail by the then Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, who himself was shot dead in January 2011 by his own guard for supporting the woman. Governor Taseer had remarked: “Frankly, it’s up to God to decide whether I’m a Muslim or not, and not some illiterate mullah to decide I’m a Muslim or not.”
On March 2, 2011, Shahbaz Bhatti, the only Christian minister in the Pakistan government was mowed down for opposing the blasphemy law.
Now, let us compare this regretful state of affairs in Pakistan with the neighbouring India.
India, the birthplace of four major religions; Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, has also witnessed a few major religious riots since 1947.
These include the February 1983 violence in Assam, where thousands of Muslims were killed on the suspicion that they were illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.
The 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi, following the assassination of Premier Indira Gandhi, had seen 2,700 Sikhs losing lives.
The acts of violence against Indian Christians include torching of churches, their re-conversion to Hinduism by force and threats of physical violence, distribution of threatening literature, burning of Bible, raping of nuns, the murders of priests and destruction of missionary schools, colleges and cemeteries.
From 1964 to 1996, at least 38 incidents of violence against Christians were reported in India. In 1997, 24 such incidents were reported. Since 1998, Christians in India have faced a frightening wave of violence.
In 1998 alone, 90 incidents were reported. Incidents of violence against Christians have occurred in nearly all parts of India, including the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and New Delhi etc.
In June 2000, four churches around India were bombed. In Andhra Pradesh, church graves were desecrated. A church in Maharashtra was ransacked.
In September 2008, two churches were partly damaged in Kerala.
The 2008 wave of attacks against Christians in Karnataka included attacks directed against Christian churches and prayer halls by a Hindu extremist organization “Bajrang Dal,” and the then ruling BJP regime was accused of harbouring the criminals
This particular wave of violence had started from September 14, 2008 when about 20 churches were vandalized in this state.
In a well-publicized case, an Australian Christian missionary called Graham Staines was burnt to death in Orissa in January 1999 along with his two sons Timothy (aged 9) and Philip (aged 7), while they were sleeping in his station wagon.
Graham Staines was running an Australian missionary society called the “Evangelical Missionary Society.”
His “distribution of beef & desecrating Hindu Deities” was the root cause of this attack, according to a few Western newspapers.
In 2003, one Hindu extremist Dara Singh was convicted of leading the gang that had burnt Graham Staines and his sons.
We all know that on October 12, 2008, Pope Benedict had criticised the unabated Anti-Christian violence in India.
And on October 28, 2008, the Vatican had called for an end to the religious violence in Orissa.
In a written address to Hindus, the Vatican office had said that the Christian and Hindu leaders needed to foster a belief in non-violence among their followers.
While Christians are surely subjected to some very harsh treatment in the Muslim world and in India, numerous missionary newsletters and online publications are consistently spreading awareness in this regard.
According to the Bulletin of Christian Persecution (October 2 - October 28, 2011 edition), Christians were expelled during this time period from their place of worship in Java (Indonesia). They were alleged of engaging in “proselytizing” in a predominantly Muslim area.
Quoting another incident related to Pakistan, the Bulletin of Christian Persecution (October 2 - October 28, 2011 edition, had cited the case of a 12-year-old Christian girl, who was allegedly kidnapped and repeatedly raped for eight months by a man who then falsified marriage documents with her.
The Bulletin had stated: “The girl was lured on a shopping trip in Lahore by a friend, before she was driven 120 miles to Tandianwalla and raped by the friend’s uncle in January this year. Two days later, she was forced to sign papers consenting to marriage with the man and beaten for refusing to convert from Christianity to Islam. She was then held against her will for eight months, before managing to escape and contact her family.”
It had added: “The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has said the rapists have not been arrested because of their affiliation with a militant Muslim organisation. It claims the police have refused to order a medical check-up on the girl, and have warned her parents that it would be better for them to hand over the girl to her ‘legal’ husband or a criminal case would be filed against them. An investigation into the kidnapping found the girl’s father reported her disappearance in January and made complaints against her abductors, but police took no action for eight months.”
This Bulletin had also shed light on the case of a Pakistani Christian Safdar Masih, who was allegedly shot to death in Pakistan on October 6, 2011 for defying the local land mafia’s “order.” The local Church had bought some land to build an orphanage, but the local land mafia had laid claim to it. The police were vehemently criticised for giving protection to criminal elements in the country and for turning a blind eye to the plight of the Christians in minority.
In Maldives, according to this Christian Bulletin under review, an Indian Catholic from Kerala was still languishing in jail for over a week on charges of having a Bible and a rosary at his home. In 2008, a constitutional amendment had denied non-Muslims the right to obtain Maldivian citizenship.
The Indian Catholic had maintained that whilst transferring some data from his pen drive to the school laptop, he had accidentally copied Marian songs and a picture of Mary into the system.
In Egypt on October 8, 2011, a 15-year-old Christian student Ferial Habib was stopped at the doorstep of her new high school with clear instructions: either put on a headscarf or no school this year. She had reportedly refused to do wear the headscarf.
Various churches in southern Egypt were attacked during 2011.
Christians have contended that during the Hosni Mubarak-era, the building of a church or repairs for an existing one required permission from local authorities and the state security agency - a rule not applied to mosques.
On October 9, 2011, clashes between Christians and Muslims had left around 20 dead.
Followers of the two faiths had battled each other with rocks and firebombs, some tearing up pavement for ammunition and others collecting stones in boxes.
It was the worst violence since the 18-day uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak in February.
Christians blame Egypt’s ruling military council for being too lenient on those behind a spate of anti-Christian attacks since the ouster of Mubarak. The Coptic Christian minority makes up about 10 percent of the country of more than 80 million people.
On October 12, 2011, authorities in Sudan had allegedly threatened to demolish three church buildings, if the churches continued to conduct worship services.
Church leaders from the Sudanese Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church of Sudan and the Roman Catholic Church said they were surprised to see government officials come to their church premises and accuse them of operating churches on government land without permission.
In Afghanistan, where there aren’t any public churches left standing according to the US State Department, after the last public Christian church here was razed back in March 2010.
In Nigeria, during October 2011, violence-weary Christians residing in Borno state were further upset to learn of the murder of a Nigerian evangelist.
In Somalia, Islamic extremists had reportedly beheaded a 17-year-old Somali Christian on charges of preaching the teachings of Holy Bible.
The afore-quoted Bulletin of Christian Persecution (October 2 - October 28, 2011 edition) had also alleged that in Iran, a Muslim convert to Christianity had gone missing since his arrest in September 2011 by plain clothes security officer.
It had stated: “The officers apparently searched the house upside-down and left a mess in their wake. The plainclothes officers confiscated the convert’s computer hard disk, CDs, pictures, and a number of Bibles. His family was also threatened to remain silent and not to talk about this incident to anyone.”
* - 'Ahmadi place of worship' is a code word for the Ahmadiyya Muslim mosques, as the writers are restricted from using the word 'mosques' when writing in relation to Ahmadis.
Read original post here: Minorities including Christians at the receiving end in Pakistan
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