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India-Pakistan

Death -- the only punishment for blasphemy? -- Xavier Patras William

2013-12-12

[Pak Daily Times] The Federal Shariat Court (FSC) has ordered the removal of life imprisonment from section 295-C of the blasphemy laws and that the death sentence be the only punishment in 295-C. Justice Fida Hussain, heading the bench, heard a contempt of court petition filed by Advocate Hashmat Habib. The FSC has issued orders to remove the provision of life imprisonment from the blasphemy law, stating that only death is the punishment for blasphemy under section 295-C. In 1984, a group of conservative lawyers filed a petition at the FSC asking for a law against insult to Islam or the Prophet (PTUI!). In 1986, the blasphemy laws, comprising section 295-A and 295-B, were implemented as part of the law of the state. In 1990, under the Hadood Ordinance, 295-C was introduced into the blasphemy laws. It was approved and the then law minister Iqbal Ahmad Khan added the text "death or life" as punishment for blasphemy in section 295-C. The blasphemy laws have been under debate for their amendment in the hope to stop their misuse as, throughout the years, the marginalised and the weak have been the victims of these laws. In Pakistain, even being accused of blasphemy is equivalent to the sentence itself. Even children are accused, regardless of their age and mental state. We have witnessed this when an eighth grader was accused of mis-spelling a word in her exams. Rimsha, an 11-year-old girl with Down's Syndrome was framed by a holy man under the blasphemy laws. It needs to be considered that the law clearly states that anyone who deliberately dishonours a religious place or a prophet is accountable. In the last 30 years, incidents of extrajudicial killings of blasphemy accused have been common. Finding the culprits behind extrajudicial killings in blasphemy cases is not pursued by the victims' families out of fear of being further victimised. Unfortunately, such killings are brushed under the carpet by the state and the court as they invite wrath. The first such extrajudicial killing took place in 1991 when blasphemy accused Naemat Ahmad was rubbed out by some unknown persons. Later, a Mohammedan, Farooq Sajid, was beaten to death by a mob in Gujranwala. Similarly, Manzoor Masih was bumped off outside the District and Sessions Court after a hearing in the 1990s. Take the case of Lahore High Court (LHC) Judge Arif Iqbal Bhatti, who was assassinated in his chambers after retirement in 1997. The killer said he targeted the judge because he was on the bench that acquitted two Christian men, Salamat and Rehmat Masih, accused in a blasphemy case. Societies have laws in order to protect people from the actions of other people. It is clearly impossible for everybody in any society to have absolute freedom: as one person exercised that freedom, it would trample upon somebody else's freedom. Despite the fact that the blasphemy laws are there, the people take the law into their own hands and decide for themselves what the punishment should be. A mentally unstable man was set ablaze outside the cop shoppe in Bahawalpur over blasphemy accusations once. These violent incidents clearly challenge the writ of the law and it is clearly evident that these laws are being misused. Life For All Pakistain, a human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. organization, has said, "The minorities -- the poorest stratum of our society who had received assurances of equal treatment from the founder of the state, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah -- have to bear the brunt of this hatred of ourselves. When the world is outraged by what is done to the women and the minorities here, we respond with xenophobia. The blasphemy phenomenon takes a horrible turn when a charged mob targets a specific community, locality or a group by burning their houses, looting their valuables and resorting to mass killing, examples being of Gojra, Sangla Hill and the most recent one in Badami Bagh, Lahore. They have not stressed to stop the misuse; this law is widely misused to settle personal vendettas and rivalries. Why is such a law being allowed to be used as a tool? How many more innocent lives will it take for the authorities to realise that it is about time to seriously take concrete steps so as to ensure that the laws are implemented and justice is served?"

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India-Pakistan

Four accused shot dead outside court

2013-09-21

[Dawn] Four accused in a murder case were bumped offed allegedly by their rivals while two constables sustained injuries in a firing incident in front of additional district and session judge's court at Sangla Hill here on Thursday. Police said Asad, Husnain, Asif and Adnan of Badu Mallhi village were accused in a murder case and were produced in the court of AD&SJ Mian Shabbir Husain. As they came out of the court escorted by Sangla Hill city police, four people belonging to their rival group opened fire killing them on the spot. Constables Ehsan and Munshi also received injuries and were shifted to Allied Hospital, Faisalabad ...formerly known as Lyallpur, the third largest metropolis in Pakistain, the second largest in Punjab after Lahore. It is named after some Arab because the Paks didn't have anybody notable of their own to name it after... The motive behind the incident was stated to be an old rivalry between Arain and Dogar groups of Badu Mallhi in Sangla Sadar police jurisdiction. All the dear departed belonged to Arain group. Later, the relatives of the dear departed blocked Pakistain Chowk at Sangla Hill by placing the bodies there for about two hours to protest the killings. The police reached the spot and assured the protesters that the killers would be tossed in the calaboose Please don't kill me! soon. Following the assurance, the protesters dispersed.

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India-Pakistan

KP Assembly session: Punjab govt accused of patronising extremists

2013-03-13

[Dawn] Minority member of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... Assembly from Awami National Party Asif Bhatti on Monday accused the Punjab government of patronising religious bad turbans, who, he said, torched around 200 houses and shops of Christians in Lahore on Saturday. Speaking on a point of order in the House, the MPA said Christians had been subjected to violence in Punjab during the five years rule of Pakistain Moslem League-Nawaz in the province, and recalled the Gojra, Shanti Nagar and Sangla Hill incidents. He said religious bully boyz torched houses and shops of Christians in Lahore without let or hindrance as coppers acted as silent spectators. "The Punjab government has not only failed to protect Christians but also patronises bad turban elements," he said demanding immediate resignation of the Shahbaz Sharif-led government. He said officers holding responsible positions in Punjab failed to take any action against perpetrators of violence against Christians. Mr Bhatti said Holy Prophet Mohammad always preached peace, love and tolerance and urged Moslems to take care of religious minorities, but some wanted to earn a bad name for Islam by subjecting minorities to violence. "More than 200 copies of the Bible have been burnt in Lahore. Tell me if those who burned copies of the holy book will ever be locked away Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! These people have forgotten the teachings of Holy Prophet Mohammad," he said. The MPA, who tied black armband to protest Lahore incident, said it was unfortunate that police were present on the occasion when mob attacked the houses of Christians. He said the Christian member of the then Punjab Assembly had voted for Pakistain and that Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah had said there was no Moslem, no Christian and no Hindu and all were Paks, but some forces were out to divide the society on religious, ethic and linguistic lines to achieve their ulterior objectives. "There is no divide among the people," he said. Mr Bhatti later staged a walkout to register protest against the Lahore incident. Later responding to the point of order, Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain condemned the Lahore incident and said some elements were trying to destabilise Pakistain by targeting religious minorities. He added that like Christians, Shias, Sunnis, the army, police and places of worship were also being targeted. The minister said the torching of an entire hamlet had never happened in a civilised world and that the people committed the heinous crime under the banner of Islam. Later, the House passed four bills, including The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Finance (Amendment) Bill, 2013, The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Workers' Compensation Bill, 2013, The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Maternity Benefits Bill, 2013 and The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Factories Bill, 2013. Also, three bills, including The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Arms Bill, 2013, The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Explosives Substances Bill, 2013 and The Provincial Motor Vehicles (Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa) (Amendment) Bill, 2013 were introduced. Speaker Kiramatullah Khan Chagharmatti, who was in the chair, later adjourned the session until 4pm today (Tuesday).

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India-Pakistan

Minister sees foreign hand in church attack

2012-09-30

[Dawn] National harmony minister National harmony minister? In Pakistain? Well, sure. They have a secretary of the treasury, too, a post based on something equally imaginary. Akram Masih Gill on Friday condemned the Sept 21 mob attack on Sarhadi Lutheran Church and adjoining buildings as a conspiracy against the country and said involvement of a foreign hand couldn't be ruled out in the terrorist activity. Talking to news hounds at Mardan Circuit House after visiting the church, the minister, the minister said attackers used chemicals to burn down Mardan church as happened in Gojra and Sangla Hill, where mobs torched churches. "No Mohammedan could be involved in the attack. We've tossed in the clink Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! six suspects and are likely to reach its criminal mastermind soon," he said. He said personnel of law-enforcement agencies had been working in light of the videos and pictures of the mob attack. Mr Gill said the government would conduct a judicial inquiry into the church attack if a need arose and would bear expenses of the destroyed structures' reconstruction and renovation. He said he visited the church on the prime minister's orders. Otherwise he'da stayed home...

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India-Pakistan

A decaying state kills its minorities

2012-09-03

The people who target religious minorities in Pakistain had been nurtured as the state's proxy warriors; the state then surrendered to them its monopoly of violence 150-strong mob of pious Mohammedans in Islamabad committed vandalism, baying for the blood of a mentally challenged Christian child Ramsha because they thought she had burned the Koran. The police had her under arrest pretending it was for her own security. Earlier, a mad 'blaspheming' man in Bahawalpur was taken out of jail and burned to death. After the imposition of the Blasphemy Law the first major case was also against a 14 year old Christian boy in Gujranwala who had to be smuggled abroad to prevent him from being killed. According to World Minority Rights Report 2011, Pakistain ranks as the 6th worst country after some African states in respect of safety and rights of minorities. This includes non-Mohammedans, those the state has dubbed non-Mohammedan, and women. Ironically, this behaviour also includes persecution of non-Mohammedans through forced conversion to Islam, through forcible marriages of non-Mohammedan girls to Mohammedans, and apparently willing conversion of non-Mohammedans to Islam to secure themselves against persecution. Hindus of Sindh have tried to migrate to India. (Nearly 568 FIRs for forced marriages were lodged last year across 40 districts of Pakistain, with the majority of such cases having been filed in Sindh.) Instead of sympathising with such runaways, the liberal PPP government suspected them of being disloyal to Pakistain and stopped them - for some time - from visiting India. Hindus are the largest minority community in Sindh. The minister who did that himself fears being killed by the elements who hunt Pakistain's Hindu community. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistain's Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... chapter has identified an ongoing exodus of Hindu families from Quetta too due to fear of kidnappings for ransom, yet the Balochistan government does not seem to be doing much to address this problem. Christians living in the Islamic world are marginalised and threatened with persecution. But Pakistain perhaps began the trend. InFebruary 1997, the twin villages of Shantinagar-Tibba Colony 12 kilometres East of Khanewal, Multan Division, were looted and burnt by 20,000 Mohammedan citizens and 500 coppers. The police first evacuated the Christian population of 15,000, then helped the raiders use battle-field explosives to blow up their houses and property. In November 2005, the Christian community of Sangla Hill in Nankana District in Punjab experienced a most hair-raising day of violence and vandalism. Daily Dawn (13 November 2005) described it like this: Under the present PPP government, a Christian federal minister has been killed by Punjabi Taliban in broad daylight in Islamabad 'The burning down of three churches, a missionary-run school, two hostels and several houses belonging to the Christian community by an enraged mob of some 3,000 people in Punjab's Nankana district speaks volumes for the bigotry and intolerance against minorities. Following allegations of blasphemy levelled against one Yousaf Masih by his Mohammedan gambling partners who accused him of also torching the Holy Koran, calls were given from mosque loudspeakers to punish the local Christians'. In May 2009, some 12 Christian families fled their homes in a village of Sahiwal because they feared that a dispute growing around an act of blasphemy in a school may result in their persecution. The village had at least 6,500 voters in it but the dispute - which may be political - was entwined with the other politics of blasphemy law. The community cowered in the face of dire announcements being made from mosque loudspeakers. The 'blasphemy' incident took place in a classroom in a local school where a page of the Holy Koran was found with ink splattered on it when the school opened in the morning. The same month, an incident put the world on notice about what Pakistain is moving towards. In Surjani Town in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , some Pashtun neighbourhood myrmidons wrote graffiti on the church wall saying: 'Taliban zindabad', 'Islam zindabad', 'Christians Islam qabool karo ya jiziya dow', etc, after which an exchange of fire maimed some Christians in addition to killing one. When the state of Pakistain apostatised the Ahmadis through an Amendment in the Constitution in the 1970s, some observers opined that the Shia community would be next in line for exclusion and slaughter The attack on the Christians of a Gojra village Korian took place in August 2009, after an alleged desecration of the Koran by the Christians in July 2009. Everyone including the Punjab chief minister anticipated the violence and cautioned the local administration in Gojra to prevent lawlessness. The fear was not that desecration had happened but that it will be conflated with blasphemy and the mobs will take the law into their own hands and go on a spree of murder. If the state in Pakistain survives, it must call to mind the following articles of the Constitution that give protection to the Christians who form the largest religious minority in Punjab estimated to be between 2 to 4 million: Article 20: freedom to profess religion and to manage religious institutions; Article 22: safeguards around education with respect to religious freedom; Article 25: equality of citizenship; Article 36: protection of minorities. But these rights and values enshrined in the Constitution have been undermined by a series of legislations related to the affirmation of the state's ideological credentials. The introduction in 1984 of the Qanoon-e-Shahadat or 'Law of Evidence' reduces the value of court testimony of a Mohammedan woman and a non-Mohammedan male citizen to that of half a Mohammedan and, by extension, that of a non-Mohammedan woman to one-quarter. Similarly the introduction of a series of amendments to the Blasphemy Laws in the PPC [section 295], adding in 1982 section 295-B which provides for mandatory life imprisonment for desecrating the Holy Koran, and in 1986 the even harsher section 295-C, which is mandatory death in respect of the insult of the Prophet (PTUI!), exposes the broadly poverty-stricken Christian community to abuses of the law. Most Mohammedans hold that violation of some human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. takes place because of the tough living conditions and poverty in the country. The view displays all the collective blind spots about human rights. It presumes certain conditions to exist against objective evidence to the contrary. It talks about the minorities in Pakistain without being aware of their view of how they are being treated. Under the present PPP government a Christian federal minister has been killed by Punjabi Taliban in broad daylight in Islamabad. Today in 2012, you have TV anchors saying more or less the same thing: Mohammedans themselves are being maltreated, so the persecution of non-Mohammedans cannot be blamed on them. Going on a tangent, they allude to the Rohingya Mohammedans of Burma about whom the rascally foreign-funded NGOs have done nothing. (In Burma, the NGOs protesting Rohingya rights are savagely suppressed by the Burmese ruling junta.) The ominous sign in Pakistain is that the majority Mohammedan community is completely inured against what the minorities are going through. The blasphemy law victims bear the brunt of the rage of the Barelvis like late Maulana Sarfraz Naeemi, secretary general of Tanzimat Madaris Dinia, who actually led a Lashkar to Sangla Hill to punish the Christians already mauled by local Mohammedans. He was later killed by the Taliban who think Barelvis are not good Mohammedans. The Deobandi rage is directed at the Shia community too. When the state of Pakistain apostatised the Ahmadis through an Amendment in the Constitution in the 1970s some observers opined that the Shia community would be next in line for exclusion and slaughter. The day has arrived. Like the Ahmadis, the Shia are being killed all over Pakistain like lambs at the slaughter house without much disturbance among the Sunni community which leans on anti-Americanism to favour the Taliban and their ancillary warriors originally prepared by the Army against India. The Shia are not named as a minority in the national census but are informally considered to be nearly 30 percent of the total population. A storm is brewing against them in the Middle East, and Pakistain could be considered as a country where it all began with the help of the state of Pakistain which nurtured the Shia-hating Deobandis and allowed its personnel in the intelligence agencies handling the covert war to be reverse-indoctrinated. The al Qaeda-linked Lashkar Jhangvi in August 2012 published a gruesome video on jihadist internet showing the beheading of two Shia. In a statement that accompanied the video on one of the forums, a jihadist said Lashkar Jhangvi is part of al Qaeda and the Taliban. Two of the Lashkar fighters then pulled out knives, and proceeded to behead the Shia men. The victims' heads were then placed on their laps. The warriors wiped their knives on the clothes of the slain men. Lashkar claimed that 'most of the operations against the Shia in Pakistain, if not all of them, are carried out by this group'. It said that Lashkar was the Omar Brigade of Taliban-Pakistain as the Omar Brigade of al Qaeda targeted Badr Brigade and others among the Shia. The politicians turn their face away; the judges are scared of the clerical backlash. Pakistain as a state is decaying and is eating its minorities first. Before it becomes a pre-modern hell under Al Qaeda and its followers, it has to accomplish the task begun with the decimation of the Shia: it will eat its Sunni Mohammedans too. For the non-Mohammedans it is a prison from which there is no escape. Pakistain was always dicey with its minorities because of its ideology, but today it is killing its minorities because it is killing itself as a state. The people who have undertaken this destruction have originated in the state of the Mohammedan mind today across the Islamic world, but their midwife in Pakistain was the Army which nurtured them as the state's proxy warriors and then surrendered to them its monopoly of violence.

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India-Pakistan

Muslims mob attacks Christian villagers in Kasur district.

2009-07-02

Lahore: July 1, 2009. (SLMP reports for PCP) Over six hundred Muslims attacked Christians in village Bahmani District Kasur on June 30, 2009. Angry Muslims’ mob, after accusing of blasphemy, destroyed Christians’ houses, looted valuables / jewelry and tortured Christian men and women ruthlessly. Bahmani village is situated at some short to Ganda Singh border Kasur between India and Pakistan . More then hundred Christian families are living in village Bahmani among perhaps 600 Muslim families since long time. Most of the Christians do labour work in the fields of Muslim landlords while some of them are doing reasonable job or getting education. According to the recent facts collected by SLMP team there was a trivial quarrel between a Sardar Masih, 38 aged years, on 29th June 2009. Sardar Masih was driving a tractor at about 7:30pm while Muhammad Riaz riding on the bike stopped his way. Sardar Masih requested him to give way on which Muhammad Riaz became angry and abused Sardar saying, “How dared you to stop me you low caste”. A scuffle took place between both of them which, later, became reason of a critical incident. Muhammad Riaz contacted a local clergyman named as Qari Lateef who is known to be bone of contention many other blasphemy cases in Kasur. Qari Lateef urged Muhammad Riaz to plot a blasphemy accusation against Sardar Masih and other Christians. After an agreement, Qari Lateef made several announcements in the loud speakers of the mosque in the village and urged Muslims of the village and in surrounding villages to get together against Christians of village Bahmani Wala. SLMP team during facts finding witnessed and stunned by the announcements as he announced that Christians of the village have committed blasphemy, they have been passed derogate remarks against Prophet Muhammad therefore they are liable to death. He called hundred of Muslims from surrounding villages as well. The angry mob of Muslims, shouting on Christians attacked their houses and destroyed everything. They set many houses of Christians on fire, looted their money and valuables, tortured Christian men and women of the village and fled away from the spot. SLMP team members interviewed some Christians of the village who told Muslims attacked their houses in presence of local police but the policemen did nothing to secure Christians. On the other hand some Muslim influential have registered a criminal case wide FIR No. 460, offense under section 148/149, 337/379 A2, A1, L2, F1 of Pakistan penal court, with police station Sadar Kasur, against eight nominated whereas three unknown Christians of the village. The FIR got registered on 29th June 2009. On 30th June when Muslims attacked Christians police were also there to arrest Christians under the above-mentioned case. Mr. Sohail Johnson, Chief Coordinator of SLMP, condemned the false accusation against Christians of Bahmani Wala and ruthless attack on them in his speech at District Police Officer’s office. He met with District Police Officer and District Coordination Officer and asked him to take appropriate action against the real culprits. He pointed out Qari Lateef who has played a wicked role to persecute innocent Christians. Mr. Sohail Johnson also visited Christians at Bahmani Wala village to console them on the shameful incident. He, in his special message for media, said that this incident refreshed the memories of brutal attack on Christians of Shanti Nagar, Chiyan Wala and Sangla Hill. He condemned police’s and other high authorities’ ignorance to protect Christians of Kasur. He appealed Christians in all over the world to pray for persecuted Church in Pakistan as the situation worsening day by day. SLMP team is working to collect the facts and to interview different involved in the case. We will provide updated report by tomorrow.

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India-Pakistan

Bomb hoax delays Karachi-bound train

2007-02-28

A bomb hoax delayed the Karachi-bound Karakoram Express at Darul Ahsan Railways Station near Sangla Hill, some 100 kilometres from Lahore, for almost four hours on Tuesday. Sources in Pakistan Railways said that the PR central control room received a call from an unidentified cell number at around 5:30pm on Tuesday evening. The caller, who introduced himself as Imtiaz, an operator at WAPDA House in Lahore, told the control room that there was a bomb in bogie number 6 of the Karakoram Express. PR operator Shafiq Hussain passed the information on to Pakistan Railways high-ups, who ordered the train stopped as it passed through Darul Ahsan Railway Station in Faisalabad division. Bomb disposal squad and civil defence officials reach the scene and started searching the train with the help of Railway Police. However, they found no explosive material and the train was cleared to continue its journey at around 9:30pm.

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India-Pakistan

Hate mongering worries minorities

2006-04-25

Several civil society organisations have taken notice of religious hate speech and textbook content and urged the government to take the issue seriously. I'm sure they simply weren't aware of the noxious content, otherwise they'd have been taking the issue seriously before now. No doubt they'll hop right on it, now that it's been pointed out to them... According to a recent report by the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP), a Catholic Church body, the commission monitored four major national Urdu dailies from August to October 2005 and found extremely provocative news reports, statements and editorials against religious minorities including Christians, Hindus, Ahmadis and even Jews (hate in absentia). Never, without extensive travel, having seen an actual Jew in the flesh, they still feel called upon to hate them... A common hate speech method is the use of derogatory terms for minorities. Ahmedis are called ‘Qadiani’ or ‘Mirzai’ while Christians are called ‘Isai’. Until some years ago, these terms were not even considered derogatory. MP Bhandara, a minority National Assembly member, wrote a letter of protest to an editor of a national daily on September 13, 2005, but if had no effect on the newspaper’s policy. That's because infidels' opinions are beneath notice... Religiously motivated hate speech: Speakers in a rally organised by Khatam-e-Nabuwat on November 14, 2005 in Badin made provocative speeches against Ahmedis. Rallies and seminars were organised in various cities to commemorate September 7, 1974, when Ahmadis were declared non-Muslim. Khatam-e-Nabuwat leaders then held a conference on September 29 and 30 in Ahmadi-majority town Rabwa, where the audience were provoked against Ahmadis. On October 1, Amjad Shakoor, a teacher at Jamia Ashrafia mosque, told students that whoever murdered an Ahmadi went to paradise. Following teacher’s instruction, some children beat up an Ahmadi child the next day. Local residents informed the police but no legal action was taken. Just a little schoolyard jihad, nothing to get excited about. I'm sure Maw and Paw were just proud as... uhhh... punch. Hatred in Urdu press: ‘Sar-e-Rahe’, a column in an Urdu daily criticised Pope Benedict XVI for encouraging Catholics to have more children and called it a ‘preparation of raw material for crusades’. The columnist said the Pope should allow nuns and priests to follow the same direction and made an offensive remark about children born out of wedlock in the West. The Catholics are no doubt devastated by such withering criticism coming from the land of acid flinging, vani, and karo kiri. The College of Cardinals is no doubt in the throes of dhinga mushti even as we speak blog... A national Urdu daily wrote in its October 20 editorial that a Christian Pastor Peter Robertson associated with a correspondent school was converting Pakistanis to Christianity and operating from Mianwali since 1995, he had converted 17,000 Muslims all over Pakistan. The paper said he used good looking young boys and girls for the purpose and urged clerics to ‘wake up to the threat’. Good for Pastor Peter. What inducements does Tablighi Jamaat use? Within 22 days of the printing of this editorial, Churches and Christian property were burnt at Sangla Hill on the pretext of desecration of the holy Quran. Liberal Muslims remained silent and there was no protest or condemnation by Muslims at large. After the incident, Dr Sarfraz Naeemi, secretary of Tanzimat Madaris-e-Deeniya said the Christian clergy had set the churches on fire after the alleged desecration, ‘like they did in Shantinagar’ (a Christian majority village that was burnt by Muslims because of an alleged desecration of the Holy Quran). Oh, of course. It couldn't be Moose limbs. Another newspaper reported that six groups consisting of young and beautiful girls and boys were on a mission to convert Muslims to Christianity by ‘entrapping them in fake love affairs’. Muslims were provoked that they should take steps in order to prove Christian priests liars. By out-lying them? A national daily published opinions of clerics who said the Pakistani government should not celebrate minorities’ religious festivals and said the government was giving minorities more importance than the majority. On Christmas eve, Dr Israr Ahmad said in a national daily newspaper that Christians were wrong when they said that Jesus Christ was crucified and quoted the Gospel of Barnabas as proof. I missed that one in my reading of the Lost Gospels, I think... According to the NCJP report, Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya had pointed out about 1,379 hate news reports in the national press during 2005. Without any personal knowledge, I'd guess that's a low count, not including the jihadi press... Hate content in textbooks: According to the report, the Social Studies curriculum in Pakistan, as the product and propagator of the ‘Ideology of Pakistan,’ derives its legitimacy from a narrow set of directives. The textbooks authored and altered during the 11 years of General Ziaul Haq’s military rule, are still being taught in schools. They are decidedly anti-democratic and inclined to dogmatic tirades, the report said. It said the Pakistani education system had nurtured a cadre of religiously conservative youth as the Pakistan Studies curriculum employed a narrow, politicised definition of Islam in the construction of Pakistani nationalism. Pakistan Studies textbooks in Pakistan have been used to articulate the hatred that Pakistani policy-makers have attempted to inculcate towards the Hindus. “Vituperative animosities legitimise military and autocratic rule, nurturing a siege mentality,” the report said. Government-issued textbooks teach students that Hindus are backward and superstitious, and given a chance, they would assert their power over the weak, especially, Muslims, depriving them of education by pouring molten lead in their ears. “Pakistan Studies textbooks are an active site to represent India as a hostile neighbour,” the report stated. “The story of Pakistan’s past is intentionally written to be distinct from, and often in direct contrast with, interpretations of history found in India. From the government-issued textbooks, students are taught that Hindus are backward and superstitious.” The report added that students were taught that Islam brought peace, equality, and justice to the subcontinent, to check the sinister ways of Hindus. “In Pakistani textbooks “Hindus” rarely appears in a sentence without adjective such as politically astute, sly, or manipulative,” the report says. “Textbooks reflect intentional obfuscation. Today’s students, citizens of Pakistan and its future leaders are the victims of these partial truths,” the report quoted a news article.

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India-Pakistan

Persecuted in Pakistan

2006-04-20

As I picked my way along a narrow walkway, I had to cup my hand over my mouth to block the stench. At various intervals, the path that threaded among simple brick dwellings disappeared and revealed the sewer underneath. Here in the Christian quarter of a village in Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province, we were accompanying the parish priest on his sick rounds. At one doorway, we stopped and he entered. A crowd gathered round and as we peered through the door, the whole family stood with the priest as he offered a solemn blessing over the sickbed, while its occupant was deep in prayer. Whispering to me as we left, the priest said: "I have to visit. It's the only thing that seems to lift their spirits. In any case, when they get ill, they don't call a doctor. The first thing they do is to call a priest and only then will they think about getting medical help." A scene that could come straight from the pages of an 18th-century English clergyman's diaries is a snapshot of modern-day life in Pakistan. About 85% of Pakistan's Christian population lives in the Punjab's villages. The large number of Christians -- up to three million -- belies their largely invisible status in a country that is at least 95% Muslim. Even the gas stations have mosque "prayer rooms." An Islam that echoes through the air -- especially at prayer time -- also explains why a Christian born into poverty will almost inevitably die poor, too. Most work as domestics, cooks or -- more likely -- as labourers at brick kilns or in the huge fields of cotton and wheat that spread far and wide. They face huge problems obtaining identity cards, making it very difficult for them to get on the voters' list or to gain access to health care and other state benefits. Pakistan is dominated by a form of Islam that tends to view outsiders with suspicion if not contempt. As priests, sisters and lay people frequently said to us during our three weeks in Pakistan: "We know we're not wanted here." This means that Christians are dangerously at risk from laws with the severest of penalties. One such Christian is Yusif Said, who was at the centre of one of the biggest religious disturbances in Pakistan's history. Last November, Yusif, a 46-year-old man from Mosquito Colony, Sangla Hill was falsely accused of breaking Article 295-B of the Blasphemy Law after a row over a game of cards. His alleged crime was to have burned pages containing the Koran; his sentence if found guilty would be life imprisonment. His accuser went on to call successfully on local imams to take action against the whole Christian community. The result was that 3,000 men, many of them bussed in from outside the town, ransacked Sangla's Christian quarter, burning two churches and their adjoining presbyteries, schools and hostels. Tearful throughout an interview, Yusif made it clear that if he changed his religion the charge would have almost certainly been dropped and that he would be able to walk away a free man. Now, even though a group of Christian lawyers successfully fought his case, Yusif must remain in a safe house. The support given to him by organizations such as Aid to the Church in Need, which I represented while in Pakistan, will prove crucial for his future well-being. If Yusif stepped outside, the fear is he would be killed. The fact remains that, regardless of the outcome of the court case, Yusif is a guilty man in the eyes of the Islamists. The situation would have been even worse if he had broken another article of the Blasphemy Law, 295-C, which states that insulting the Prophet Muhammad is worthy of death. In the 20 years since the introduction of the Blasphemy Law, the courts have dealt with 900 cases, a disproportionately high number of them involving Christians. What increasingly makes matters worse for Christians is the perceived link between them and the Western world, which is now being demonized by extremists. Unable to hit out at the West, some Pakistani Islamists take out their wrath on the local Christian population. This happened recently with the row over the Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. In Pakistan, at least three churches were burned, and countless other Christian buildings came close to suffering the same fate. So has this set back the cause of inter-faith dialogue? I asked Bishop Joseph Coutts of Faisalabad, who spoke of continuing dialogue with Muslims in his large diocese, telling how at one such meeting one Islamic leader interrupted another and told him not to confuse the blasphemous cartoonists with Christians, particularly those in South Asia. Hence, said Bishop Coutts, when anti-cartoon fury spread, the backlash against Faisalabad Christians was comparatively small. To an outsider, Christian practice in Pakistan comes across as being influenced by Islam in its best and most spiritual forms. Churches are often quite bare, with people seated on the ground, and the Missal is sometimes placed on a book rest similar to the type used for the Koran. Thus, in some sense the similarity of certain beliefs uniting Muslims and Christians -- such as the emphasis on the Virgin Mary and Abraham -- is given outward expression. Away from the headline-grabbing incidents of persecution against Christians are the lesser-known stories of how individual Muslims approached church communities affected by aggression and said their faith had nothing to do with that of the Islamists. Recalling the many such incidents of this kind, the bishops are fanning the hopes that these softly spoken words represent the voice of the majority. For a church rocked by a wave of persecution, bonds of compassion as well as faith and practice could well prove crucial in the search for inter-faith harmony.

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India-Pakistan

Christians protest attack on churches

2006-04-03

MULTAN: Christians on Sunday protested against the desecration of the Holy Bible and arson attacks on their places of worship in various parts of the country, terming the incidents ‘religious terrorism’. Special services were held for those who had died in various incidents of violence against minorities. “It is religious terrorism to set our church (in Mian Channu) ablaze during the period when we (Christians) fast. It is an attack on our religion and belief. We feel unsafe and insecure,” said Chaudhry Naveed Amer Jeeva, MPA and the coordinator of All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, South Punjab. He said that the present regime had failed to protect churches, missionary properties and religious leaders. He said that churches had been burnt down in Sargodha and Sukkur, more than 300 copies of holy Bible were set ablaze in Sangla Hill and the cross desecrated and Christians killed in terrorist activities. Not to worry. Sipah e-Sahabah's legal again.

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India-Pakistan

Sangla Hill case: Yousaf Masih, 88 Muslims acquitted

2006-02-24

LAHORE: The Lahore Anti Terrorist Court on Thursday acquitted Yousaf Masih, of alleged blasphemy in Sangla Hill, and 88 people of burning churches because of lack of evidence. Joe's acquitted, but he's toast. Justice Muqarab Khan gave the judgment on Wednesday and ordered the release of all accused. Masih was acquitted after the accuser told the court that Yousaf was not the man who burnt a Quran Mahal. Also, missionary representatives submitted that the arrested 88 Muslims were not those who set the churches and other missionary properties on fire. "Ummm... No, yer honor! I wudn't them. It wuz... ummm... another 88 guys." On February 18, the court ordered the release of 64 men, charged in the Sangla Hill Church case. The court ordered the men be released on bail bonds of Rs 50,000 each. The court also ordered the release of 11 under-aged children.

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India-Pakistan

Sangla blasphemy accusation withdrawn

2006-01-10

LAHORE: The man who accused a Christian in Sangla Hill of burning copies of the Quran has withdrawn his complaint, and leaders of the Muslim and Christian communities in the town have signed an agreement not to pursue the case or the case against Muslim rioters who burned churches. Otherwise they'll burn a few more, assuming there are any left... The accusation of blasphemy against Younas Masih on November 11 enraged local Muslims, and they attacked Christian institutions in the town the next day, burning three churches, two parish houses, a convent, a girls high school and a dispensary. Daily Times has learnt from local sources that the complainant, Kalo Suniara, gave a written statement that Masih was innocent and local Muslim leaders and priests from the churches that were burnt then signed an agreement to forget the matter on January 5. "Never mind." Nankana Sahib District Police Officer (DPO) Zulfiqar Hameed confirmed the report but said he did not have a copy of the agreement. Regarding the release of 86 Muslims arrested for attacking the churches, he said “investigations” were going on and the police would follow any directions the government gave it. Any guesses as to what directions will come? Masih was accused of setting fire to a ‘Quran Mahal’, a room used to store old copies of the Quran. Suniara and others lodged a First Information Report with the police on November 11 accusing him of blasphemy, and Masih was arrested the same night. It later emerged that the accusations were made by Muslims who owed Masih gambling debts. So what happens to the turbans who actually set the fire that desecrated their precious Korans? And will Masih ever get his money? A judicial inquiry was conducted into the attacks on churches but the report has not been made public. The men accused of attacking the churches and other Christian properties were not arrested. Wotta surprise.

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