Gojra report proposes amending blasphemy laws

* Tribunal calls for immediate action against those responsible

* Calls for capacity building of law-enforcement agencies *

Identifies factors that led to riots

FAISALABAD: An inquiry report on riots in Gojra in August – which killed several people – proposes amendments to the blasphemy laws. An inquiry tribunal – headed by Lahore High Court Judge Iqbal Hameedur Rehman and tasked with looking into the tragedy that killed seven people – also warned the government on Sunday that “the Gojra tragedy must be taken seriously and the needful [should] be done on war-footing without further loss of time”. The violent protests in Gojra triggered ethnic tensions and resulted in the displacement of 96 Christian families. The inquiry tribunal notes in the report that the country is already facing grave challenges in the form of terrorism and militancy – which, in addition to destroying the economy, have “disfigured our national image all over the world ... we cannot afford any other menace, [such as] sectarian disputes”. It says efforts to control such unrest must begin immediately. The 258-page report recommends action “without any discrimination against those responsible for commission and omission”. The report also proposes amendments to Pakistan Penal Code sections 295, 295-A, 295-B, 295-C, 296, 297, 298, 298-A, 298-B, 298-C, anti-blasphemy laws, relevant provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code and the Police Order 2002. It recommends that federal intelligence agencies be mandated to provide “first-hand information at the divisional level”. It also calls for the capacity building of the Special Branch, the establishment of a special force for the protection and protocol of VIPs and other vulnerable persons, the exclusion of district nazims in issues related to law and order, the establishment of intelligence and crime prevention branches, rules for effective utilisation of police in terms of Article 112 of Police Order 2002, the constitution of a district religious dispute resolution board, and categorisation of districts on the basis of sensitivity. The tribunal reached the conclusion that the riots were a result of the “inability of law-enforcement agencies to assess the gravity of the situation, inadequate precautionary and preventive measures taken by law-enforcement agencies, a lukewarm stance by the Toba Tek Singh DPO, the failure of intelligence agencies in providing prompt and correct information, a defective security plan, the irresponsible behaviour of the administration, the complete failure of police while discharging their duties, the non-enforcement of Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, omissions to take steps under sections 107 and 151 of the CrPC, the lack of a decision to invoke the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) 1960 – which amounts to letting the miscreants loose to wreak havoc during the course of the riots – and several other factors”. app

Questions of identity and loyalty

By Irfan Husain Wednesday, 18 Nov, 2009

IMAGINE if a Hindu or Christian officer in the Pakistan army had shot dead 13 soldiers and wounded 40 in a lethal rampage. Think of the backlash in a country where our minorities are so badly treated at the best of times.

Fortunately, beyond heated speculation about his motive, and the odd threat, there has been no violence following Major Nidal Malik Hasan’s unprovoked attack on his fellow soldiers at the US army base in Fort Hood in Texas.

One line of investigation is the extent to which he acted out of an impulse to kill American soldiers. Among the many articles about this outrage posted on the internet was a presentation he gave to fellow doctors at an army facility a few months before the attack. While he was supposed to speak about a medical topic, he suddenly veered off into a long and detailed exposition about the duties of Muslim soldiers fighting for the American government.
Many of the audience were horrified at the extreme views Major Hasan expressed.
Investigators have also found an exchange of emails between the psychiatrist and an extremist preacher in Yemen. In addition, there have been some money transfers to Pakistan that have excited interest. Now, questions are being asked about why all these facts and views had not alerted the authorities to Hasan’s Islamist ideology.

Clearly, here is a case of divided loyalties. While many of us feel the tug of competing philosophies, we generally compromise and muddle along without resorting to such violent actions to resolve the contradictions of modern life.

Although being a doctor, he was not required to fight other Muslims, Hasan still felt uneasy at the prospect of serving in Afghanistan or Iraq. The fact is that he had other options to pulling the trigger: he could have resigned his commission, or refused to serve as a conscientious objector, and accepted the consequences. The fact that he decided to turn his gun on his fellow soldiers speaks of an extremist mindset, rather than a troubled mind.

In the 21st century, as unprecedented numbers move from their homeland to distant lands to seek a better life, questions of identity and loyalty are assuming greater urgency.
In Major Hasan’s case, he was clearly torn between his religious belief and his professional loyalty to the US army. The conflict arose when he was told he would soon be sent to serve in a country where the US was at war against Muslims.

Normally, people are not asked to make such stark choices when they migrate. A shopkeeper or a farm worker just gets on with his life, trying to save money for his family. But if they are Muslims, their loyalty to their host country is increasingly suspect in a post-9/11 world.
However, this inner conflict over loyalty and identity is not limited to Muslims: many American Jews have dual nationality, and soldiers from among them have received leave of absence to serve in the Israeli armed forces at times of need.

In the Yom Kippur war of 1973, many Jewish American pilots flew missions with the Israeli air force. Thus far, their loyalty has not been tested as there is no possibility of a war between Israel and America. However, there have been cases of American Jews spying for Israel.
The arrest and successful prosecution of a number of young Britons of Pakistani origin for terrorist plots and attacks has also raised questions about loyalty. Many in the UK, even very liberal and tolerant people, are appalled that these young men have turned against the country in which they were born, raised and educated. This is an extreme case of confusion over identity, and an angry rejection of the values of the host community.

In India, there was the recent furore over the fatwa issued by an Islamic group at Deoband forbidding Muslims from singing the national song, Vande Mataram. Usually sung at schools, the official song has been shorn of any Hindu content, and is a hymn in praise of Mother India. By issuing this fatwa, the Indian ulema have put their community in the difficult position of choosing to further isolate themselves from the mainstream, or risk being ostracised.

Indian Muslims in the previous generation were often viewed as a fifth column whose true loyalties lay with Pakistan. Most younger Muslims have put this sentiment behind them, and see themselves as Indians. And apart from occasional outbursts of communal violence, they are well integrated into the fabric of Indian society.

Generally speaking, dual nationality does not really pit one identity against another. At heart, the first generation of migrants retain strong links with their home country. These feelings of patriotism are diluted over the next generation, until total cultural assimilation takes place.
However, the real crisis arises when an individual’s loyalty to his adopted country is pitted against his most deeply held religious beliefs. Thus, when Muslims in the West are convinced by radicals that their adopted countries are acting to dominate and defeat fellow Muslims in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan, they are torn between these conflicting pulls.

This is not to excuse people like Major Hasan, but to try and explain why they act as they occasionally do. No religion, including Islam, teaches its followers to take up arms against innocent civilians to kill innocent civilians. And certainly, suicide is a sin in every religion.
In any case, there are several aspects to our identity, and religion is only one of them. But for some, it assumes overwhelming proportions, dominating and subsuming all others.
This is when such individuals can turn against their fellow beings in a nihilistic outburst of violence.

To rationalise this act, they cite their religious belief, as if their faith is superior to all others and somehow justifies killing innocent people.

Major Hasan’s rampage has raised deeply troubling questions, and no doubt his trial will ensure that this debate over identity and loyalty will resonate for a long time. No doubt, too, that many Muslims around the world condone and even admire his murderous attack.

But they need to consider how this single act has placed a cloud of suspicion over other Muslims serving in the American armed forces. They should also ponder over the ultimate futility of terrorism as a means of gaining political ends.

(Dawn)

In Major Hasan’s case, he was clearly torn between his religious belief and his professional loyalty to the US army. The conflict arose when he was told he would soon be sent to serve in a country where the US was at war against Muslims. —Reuters/File Photo

Christian janitor died saving Muslim students

By Ivan Watson, CNN
Islamabad, Paksitan (CNN) -- Life is slowly getting back to normal at the women's campus of Islamabad's International Islamic University.
The young women who study here chatter on the school's well-manicured lawns, their brightly-colored scarves and Pakistani dresses blowing in the wind on a sunny autumn day.
Barely three weeks ago, this quiet place of learning was the scene of a nightmare. On October 20, two suicide bombers launched near simultaneous attacks on both the men's and women's side of the campus.
Afsheen Zafar, 20, is in mourning. Three of her classmates, girls she describes as "shining stars," were killed on that terrible day.
Still, she says the carnage could have been much worse if not for the actions of a lowly janitor, who was also killed.
"If he didn't stop the suicide attacker, there could have been great, great destruction," Zafar says.
"He's now a legend to us," says another 20-year-old student named Sumaya Ahsan. "Because he saved our lives, our friends' lives."
The janitor's name was Pervaiz Masih. According to eyewitness accounts, the attacker approached disguised in women's clothing. He shot the guard on duty, and then approached the cafeteria, which was packed with hundreds of female students.
Masih intercepted the bomber in the doorway, however, and the bomber self-detonated right outside the crowded hall, spraying many of his explosive vest's arsenal of ball bearings out into the parking lot instead of into the cafeteria.
"The sweeper who was cleaning up here saw someone outside and went towards him," said Nasreen Siddique, a cafeteria worker who was wounded in the head, leg and arm by the blast. "[Masih] told him that he could not come inside because there were girls inside. And then they started arguing. And then we heard a loud blast and all the glass broke."
"Between 300 to 400 girls were sitting in there," said Professor Fateh Muhammad Malik, the rector of the university. "[Pervez Masih] rose above the barriers of caste, creed and sectarian terrorism. Despite being a Christian, he sacrificed his life to save the Muslim girls."
Masih was a member of Pakistan's Christian minority, traditionally one of the poorest communities in the country.
When the attacker struck, Masih had been on the job for less than a week, earning barely $60 a month.
Masih lived with seven other family members, in a single room in a crowded apartment house in the city of Rawalpindi. Until the attack his mother, 70-year old Kurshaid Siddique, worked as a cleaning lady at a nearby house to help make ends meet. Now, she makes a daily pilgrimage to the cemetery where Masih is buried.
Siddique is inconsolable. Asked if she was proud that some people were calling her son a hero, Siddique waved a hand in the air dismissively, answering, "My hero is dead now."
She pulls out a framed photo of her son, pictured wearing a button down white shirt and a thick mustache. When Masih's three-year-old daughter Diya sees his photo, she reaches for it, saying, "Mama, I want that picture."
From time to time, Diya turns to her mother and repeats one word, "Papa."
The Islamic University offered to give Diya a free education and employ Masih's widow, Shaheen Pervaiz.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani government has promised to award Masih's family 1 million rupees (about $12,000) for his bravery.
"He is a national hero because he saved the life of many girls," said Shahbaz Bhatti, minister of minorities in the Pakistani government. "As a Christian, a person of minority, he stood in front of the Taliban to protect the university."
But the grave of this national hero is a sorry sight. It is located in the poorer, garbage-strewn Christian half of a neighborhood cemetery, less then three feet from a muddy road.
Masih's mother and widow visit every day. One of his sisters crosses herself, then stoops down to pick up an empty pack of cigarettes someone threw onto the little mound of earth.
The family had to borrow money to pay for Masih's funeral and they are now behind on paying the rent. If the government money comes through, Masih's mother would like to decorate her son's grave.
"I would like him to have his name in cement with a nice poetry verse," she says. "And there should be a fence surrounding his grave."

(CNN)

President pardons 59 Christian prisoners on appeal of “Life for All”

Islamabad: November 12, 2009. (PCP) President of Pakistan Mr. Asif Ali Zardari approved pardon for 59 Christian prisoners here today who were falsely accused of minor crimes and were in jail without any bail or no one provided them support of legal aid or they were so poor to hire any attorney for them. These 59 Christian inmates were in Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Peshawar ans Sialkot Jails. Rizwan Paul, President of “Life for All” a civil society organization based in Lahore have petitioned government of Pakistan to pardon these Christian prisoners and sought mercy for them.From Adyala Jail, Rawalpindi: 1. Shamsher Mashi, 2. John Gill, 3. Samuel Pervaiz, 4. Rana Riaz, 5. Shahid Gill, 6. Jamshed John, 7. Pastor Samuel John, 8. Jalal Mashi, 9. Peter Riaz, 10. Rizwana Kohkar,11. Saqib Adeel, 12. David Simon, 13. Robert Mashi, 14. Asher Bhatti, 15. Nadeem Bhatti, 16. Rehmat Bhatti, 17. Paster Asher MehangaFrom Kot Lakhpat jail Lahore: 1. Sohail John, 2. Rana Maqsood, 3. Mary Aqsa, 4. John Sadiq, 5. Gorge Mashi, 6. Samuel Victor, 7. Shahid Anwer, 8. David Javed, 9. Saleem John, 10. Asif John, 11. Noman Mashi, 12. Joshua Mall, 13. Asher John, 14. Sadia Yousaf, 15. Yousaf MashiFrom Sialkot Jail, Sialkot :1. John Peter, 2. Shahid John, 3. John Asif, 4. Asher Anwer, 5. Suleman Gill,6. Shahid Gill, 7. Sunil Sabistian, 8. Sajid Riaz, 9. John MallFrom Peshawar Jail:1. Justin Javed. 2. Rana Nawaz, 3. Adrish Nawaz Khan, 4. Raymond Khan, 5. Victor Mall, 6. John Rehmat, 7. Khalid George, 8. Daud GeorgeFrom Karachi Jail: 1. Riaz Javed, 2. Reynolds Dean, 3. John Mall, 4. Sam Mall, 5. Shama Gill, 6. Daniel Mall, 7. Peter Christie, 8. David Christie, 9. John lala, 10. Solomon GillThere are hundreds of Church based and Christian/Muslim civil society organizations who claim to provide legal aid assistance to Christians and other poor people but its truth that poor in Pakistan are implicated in false cases and go behind bars for years.The organizations getting huge sums of funds from foreign donor agencies only follow cases which can give them publicity and poor are left without any legal aid.There are hundreds of Christians and thousands of poor Muslims in jails from years without any assistance of lawyer who may fight their cases.The implication of Christians in false fabricated cases in different minor charges is routine of police and they stay in prisons for years when their families can not afford any attorney.

Taliban Blame ‘Blackwater’ for Pakistan Bombings

By ROBERT MACKEY
On Monday, Al Jazeera reported that a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban said the group accepted responsibility for only some of the recent suicide bombings in Pakistan, laying the blame for others, including a deadly attack on a market last month that killed more than 100 civilians, on the American security firm formerly known as Blackwater. The spokesman claimed that the firm, now called Xe, was involved in an attempt to discredit the militants by staging deadly attacks.
This video report from Al Jazeera includes shots of of Azam Tariq, a spokesman for the broad alliance of Pakistani militant groups known as the Tehrik-i-Taliban, saying, “I want to tell the people in Pakistan and the Muslim nation that the Tehrik-i-Taliban are not responsible for the bombings, but Blackwater and Pakistan’s spy agency are behind them.”



According to The Associated Press, the spokesman tried to pass off blame for two recent attacks that were particularly deadly, saying:
The dirty Pakistani intelligence agencies, for the sake of creating mistrust and hatred among people against the Taliban, are carrying out blasts at places like the Islamic university, Islamabad, and the Khyber bazaar, Peshawar.
The A.P. also reported that the video, posted on YouTube on Sunday, bore the logo of Al Qaeda’s media wing, As-Sahab. The A.P. noted that this was “the first time the Taliban spokesman has appeared in an As-Sahab video,” suggesting that there are “growing links between the two groups.”
An earlier report on the Web site of The Daily Times, a publication based in Lahore, said that the spokesman had also suggested that the ruling Pakistan People’s Party was involved in the attacks, adding, “All these killings by the infamous Blackwater are aimed at maligning the Taliban.”
On Monday, Issam Ahmed of The Christian Science Monitor reported from Peshawar that some Pakistanis were ready to believe that the American private security firm is the enemy, rather than the Taliban. Mr. Ahmed reported:
The company’s operatives are often viewed by Pakistanis as akin to C.I.A. agents, and local conspiracy theories sometimes assert that the U.S. with the help of Blackwater, rather than the Taliban, are responsible for the suicide attacks. [...]
According to Faizullah Jan, a lecturer at the department of journalism and mass communication at the University of Peshawar, such conspiracy theories are fed by Pakistan’s mainstream media and the proliferation of underground jihadist media outlets. “In such an environment anything which is seemingly obvious is not real, and anything which is hidden is deemed to be real,” he says.
Indeed, it is not hard to find reports in Pakistan’s media that blame American private contractors and the intelligence agencies of other countries for terrorist attacks in the country. Last month the Web site Pakistan Daily reported that a former chief of staff of Pakistan’s army had claimed in a television interview that Blackwater was involved in the assassination of Pakistan’s former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto. The same Web site published an editorial days later claiming that the attacks killing Pakistani civilians were carried out by “Blackwater Talibans” working on behalf of “the underground drug mafia controlled by the Zionists.” Pointing to an even broader conspiracy the same writer suggested,
Pakistan is under the attack of various Talibans which include Indian Talibans, Israeli Talibans, Karzai Talibans… British Talibans and American Talibans which of course include Blackwater.
The fact that the United States government has employed the private security firm to work in secret inside Pakistan makes it hard to knock down the wilder conspiracy theories. My colleagues James Risen and Mark Mazzetti reported in August:
From a secret division at its North Carolina headquarters, the company formerly known as Blackwater has assumed a role in Washington’s most important counterterrorism program: the use of remotely piloted drones to kill Al Qaeda’s leaders, according to government officials and current and former employees.
The division’s operations are carried out at hidden bases in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the company’s contractors assemble and load Hellfire missiles and 500-pound laser-guided bombs on remotely piloted Predator aircraft, work previously performed by employees of the Central Intelligence Agency. They also provide security at the covert bases, the officials said.
Weeks after that news broke, it became fodder for the Pakistani journalist and blogger Ahmed Quraishi, who dug into the Web site of the United States Training Center, which calls itself “a Xe company,” and noticed that job applicants were directed to a form — posted on the Web site Blackwaterusa.com — that includes Urdu and Punjabi in a list of languages that prospective contractors might speak.
Mr. Quraishi took one look at that form and jumped to publish his conclusion that “hiring continues as we speak for agents and for people with military training who can speak Urdu, Pakistan’s national language, and Punjabi, spoken by the natives of Pakistan’s largest populated province.” Mr. Quraishi took no note of the fact that the list of languages applicants might be proficient in also includes German, Italian, Thai and sign language.
One imagines it won’t take long for conspiracy-minded Pakistanis reading Sunday’s report in The Los Angeles Times that the C.I.A. has been bringing “ISI operatives to a secret training facility in North Carolina” to notice that the Web site of United States Training includes a photograph of its center in Moycock, N.C. above a statement that the company “is currently training select military and other government groups from U.S.-friendly nations.”
Perhaps picking up on the popular mood, Pakistan’s prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, reportedly blamed foreign militants for the violence during a meeting with leaders of the Mehsud tribes from Waziristan on Tuesday. According to the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, Mr. Gilani “said foreign militants of Arab, Uzbek, Afghan and Chechen origin were operating in the country and were involved in terrorist activities.” Dawn also reported that the prime minister said that the tribesmen, despite their links to the former Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, were blameless:
Gilani categorically stated that the Mehsud tribes were patriotic Pakistanis and had nothing to do with the handful of terrorists who had taken refuge in their area. He lauded the role of the tribal people in the creation of Pakistan and said the nation can never forget it.

(New York Times)

Religious parties reject plans to amend blasphemy law

LAHORE: Rejecting any changes to the Namoos-e-Risalat Act – or the blasphemy law – religious parties have warned the government that they will not accept any move to repeal or amend the law.

The Jamaat Ahl-e-Hadith Pakistan and the Tehreek Tahafuz-e-Haqooq Ahl-e-Sunnat – which hold more sway in Lahore, Multan and southern Punjab compared to other areas of the province – organised religious conventions on Saturday to “condemn” suggestions by the government to amend the act.

Addressing one of the conventions, Jamaat Ahl-e-Hadith Pakistan chief Hafiz Abdul Guffar Ropari and leaders Hafiz Abdul Wahab Ropari and Maulana Muhammad Abdullah refused to accept any changes to the law. They said the government must not amend the law “if it wants to remain in power”. They said those who believed in Islam would come out onto the streets if a single change was made. The Tehreek Tahafuz-e-Haqooq Ahl-e-Sunnat also organised a conference, and central party leaders – including Haji Abdul Majeed Saifi, Mufti Muhammad Asif Naumani, Mufti Muhammad Afzal Chishti and Mian Ghulam Shabbir Qadri – censured the government the government for sending the Blasphemy Act to a National Assembly standing committee for revision. hussain kashif

(Daily Times)

Sunni Ittehad Council supports South Waziristan operation

KARACHI: The Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), an alliance of the Sunni Barelvi parties, announced their support to the ongoing army operation against terrorists in South Waziristan Agency.

At a press conference on Sunday, they urged the government to continue the operation until all terrorists there were killed. SIC also announced a countrywide protest on November 6 against the amendment or repealing of the blasphemy law.

“The government must inform the nation about the details of arms and ammunition recovered from the terrorists and about those who were supporting these barbaric terrorists,” demanded member of National Assembly, SIC Chairman and Markazi Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan Sahibzada Haji Muhammad Fazal Karim and lashed out at Taliban, Al-Qaeda and their supporters.

Sunni Tehreek (ST) chief Sarwat Ejaz Qadri, Nizam-e-Mustafa Party chief Haji Muhammad Hanif Tayyab, Sahibzada Pir Amin-ul-Hasanat and others were also present at ST’s Markaz-e-Ahle Sunnat where Karim addressed the gathering. He criticised the statement of President Asif Ali Zardari about amending the blasphemy law and said, “We shall hold protest demonstrations.”

He expressed his deep concern over foreign interference in Pakistan’s affairs and asked the government to summon an all-parties conference to decide the national strategy to solve the issues of Balochistan and Waziristan.

He demanded the government to immediately withdraw the name of Sunni Tehreek from its watch list. SIC also demanded the government to decrease Rs 10 per litre on petroleum products, urging it to disband OGRA and transfer its powers to the parliament. staff report

‘Political allegiance saved Gojra culprits’

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
By Our Correspondent

LAHORE

Archbishop Lawrence John Saldanha has asked if blasphemy law is so important for Muslims, then why it is not in any other country except Pakistan.

Addressing a press conference held by the Pakistan Christian Action Forum (PCAF) at the Lahore Press Club, Lawrence John said that the true culprits of the Gojra incident had not been apprehended due to political allegiances, despite the face that they were specifically named by the victims. He said that the government had not even bothered to share the report of the investigation committee with the Christian community representatives.

He said the Christian community had the utmost regard and respect for the religious values of the Muslims. He said that the reason for which the minorities felt insecure due to the blasphemy law was that it did not define the offence in particular and its vague definitions had led to the brutal assassination of the innocent.

The National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) executive secretary, Peter Jacob, said the government should make all necessary arrangements to repeal all laws encouraging crime and discrimination, especially the blasphemy laws. He said that the cold blooded murder of minorities under the umbrella of such discriminatory laws was against the principles of a democratic state which vows freedom and rights of all religions at equality.

The PCAF demanded the government make serious and credible efforts to protect the life and property of religious minorities in Pakistan. Demanding all sectarian, religious specific discriminatory material from the educational syllabi, the PCAF called for educational reforms in this regard.

It also demanded that the media should provide space to the minorities to form a truly pluralistic society with democratic values so that distributive social and judicial inequalities could be eliminated and the minorities could enjoy jobs in the public sector. Moderator Church of Pakistan bishop Samuel Robert, Firdaus Margaret Chaudhry, Father Emmanuel Yousaf and Advocate Naeem Shakir Chaudhry were also present.

(The News International)

The Catholic Church in Pakistan (An overview)

Catholics are less than 1% of a total of over 160 million inhabitants. There are two archdiocese in the country, four dioceses and an apostolic prefecture. A small minority but active and appreciated for efforts in education, helping the poor, health care and emergency interventions.

Islamabad (AsiaNews) - Pakistan has just over 160 million inhabitants and is the second largest Muslim country in the world, after Indonesia. About 95% of the population professes Islam, with 75% Sunni, and 20% Shiite, Christians are approximately 2% of the total (less than 1% Catholic), 1.8% are Hindus, the remaining 1.2% profess other religions, including Sikhs, Parsis, Ahmadis, Buddhists, Jews, bah'ai and animists.

The largest Catholic presence is in the diocese of Lahore, in Punjab, with 390 thousand faithful out of a total of 26 million people; 26 parishes. Following this, the diocese of Faisalabad, with 189 thousand faithful out of about 33 million people, distributed in 28 parishes. Third in the diocese of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, with 174 thousand faithful out of 32 million inhabitants for a total of 19 parishes. Then Karachi, with 145 thousand faithful and 15 parishes out of a total population of 15 million people. Pakistan has two archdiocese, four dioceses and one apostolic prefecture, all of the Latin rite.

In this country there are many Christian schools, institutes and hospitals, that are considered prestigious and are appreciated by local authorities for the quality of the work they carry out in favour of the local populations, regardless of their faith. However, religious freedom, as in other Muslim-majority nations, is not guaranteed and cases of harassment, death threats and assassinations are a constant companion.

The activities of the Church of Pakistan cover various sectors including: education and formation, aid to the poor (one third of the population is at risk from hunger), projects to support agriculture, health care and interventions in cases of emergency or natural disaster. Among the numerous works carried out by Caritas Pakistan, along with Christian-based NGOs of mention is their assistance to victims of the earthquake that struck the country in 2005, killing 75 thousand people and making at least 3.5 million homeless. The organization relies on the collaboration of 500 people and voluntary work of about a thousand volunteers, to assist approximately 500 thousand people across the nation.

(Asian News)

Pakistan Police Torture Christians Arrested in Islamic Attack

Two brothers jailed after protecting 300 people from Islamist fire assault in Gojra.

LAHORE, Pakistan, October 23 (CDN) — Two Christians in Gojra, Pakistan who allegedly fired warning shots as an Islamist mob approached that burned seven Christians to death on Aug. 1 told Compass they were tortured after police arrested them.

Only one of hundreds of Muslim assailants in the fire assault on Gojra’s Christian Town is in jail, but sources said Islamists have provided police a pretense for arresting the two Christian brothers who gave shelter to 300 people. Naveed Masih, 32, alias Fauji (“the Soldier”) and his 25-year-old brother Nauman Masih were arrested on Sept. 2 and Sept. 7 respectively for “rioting with deadly weapons and spreading terror with firing.”

Naveed Masih is said to have fired warning shots from a rooftop into the air and at the feet of the mob of approaching Muslim assailants to try to disperse them, but both brothers deny using any weapons.

From his jail cell, Naveed Masih told Compass that he and his brother were taken to the Police Training Centre in Choong, where they were kept in illegal detention for 18 days and were tortured “in so many ways ruthlessly and in inhumane ways.”

“Sometimes we were not given anything to eat or drink except one time, and sometimes we were hung in a dark well while our faces were covered with a cloth,” Naveed Masih said. “They beat me with cane sticks on the back of my hands and sometimes hung me upside down and then brutally beat me.”

Police kept them hungry for days, he said; when they asked for food, officers told them to confess that they had fired, he added. Naveed Masih said police tortured them to try to force them to say they had links with terrorist organizations that provided arms and ammunition to them.

Naveed Maish said they were forbidden to sleep; they were awoken whenever they dozed off. Throughout the 18 days of torture, he said, the two brothers were kept separate but saw each other when they were taken to court.

“We hugged each other and wept, seeing each other’s wounds,” he said.

Naveed Masih said police tortured them because they had given shelter to more than 300 women, children and elderly people on the day of attack, in which the assailants – acting on an unsubstantiated rumor of “blasphemy” of the Quran and whipped into a frenzy by local imams and banned terrorist groups – also looted more than 100 houses and set fire to 50 of them. At least 19 people were injured in the melee.

In spite of the targeting of the Christian area in Gojra by hundreds of Islamic extremists, police have registered complaints filed by the Muslim assailants against 129 Christians; sources said these various charges were filed only to pressure the Christian community. Thus far police have arrested only Naveed Masih and Nauman Masih – whose cases were submitted in an Anti-Terrorism Court to make it difficult for them to obtain bail, according to their lawyer – but the Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement was able to obtain release on bail for Nauman Masih.

Nauman Masih told Compass that of the 17 Muslims named in the First Information Report on the Aug. 1 attack, only one, Abdul Khalid Kashmiri, was in jail. Kashmiri has offered 1 million rupees (US$12,500) if the Christian complainants would withdraw the case, Nauman Masih added.

The rest of the Muslim assailants are still at large, and sources said police have no intention of arresting them. In addition, three checks of 100,000 rupees (US$1,200) each issued by Punjab Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah for compensation to victims have been cancelled, Nauman Masih said, probably because the recipients are among the 129 Christians implicated in the false charges.

Nauman Masih said that when his mother arrived at the Christian Town Police Station the night his brother was arrested, officials told her that she could see him the next morning. But when she and other women arrived the next morning, he said, police told them that they had not arrested him.

The Community Development Initiative (CDI), an advocacy group working with the help of American Center for Law and Justice, has taken up the case of both brothers. CDI lawyer Haroon Suleman Khokhar said that they have been falsely implicated in a serious crime for protecting themselves and many other innocent Christians.

He said that police had no justification for submitting the cases of the two brothers in the Anti-Terrorism Court of Faisalabad. Khokhar said Naveed Masih was a key eyewitness in the report filed with police on the Aug. 1 attack, and that the two brothers were implicated in the cases only to try coercing Naveed Masih to withdraw from testifying against the Muslim attackers.

To protest police registration of the complaints against the 129 Christians, which include Bishop of Gojra John Samuel, Naveed Masih and Nauman Masih, on Oct. 5 the Christians of Gojra rejected goods sent by the U.S. Embassy to Pakistan in Islamabad. Demanding justice rather than aid, the Christians threw away the boxes of aid.

(Compass Direct)

5pc job quota for minorities, says minister

Monday, October 26, 2009
By Our Correspondent

LAHORE

THE Punjab government has issued a notification to reserve five percent quota for minorities in the total jobs in the government departments in the province.

Addressing a press conference on Sunday, Punjab Minister for Minorities Affairs and Human Rights Kamran Michael said the quota would be reserved for minorities (non-Muslims) as defined in the Article-260 (3)(b) of the Constitution of Pakistan. He said the quota would not apply to vacancies reserved for recruitment on the basis of competitive examination conducted by the Punjab Public Service Commission, recruitment made by promotion or transfer in accordance with relevant rules, short-term vacancies likely to last for less than six months, isolated posts in which vacancies occurred only occasionally and vacancies reserved for minorities for which qualified candidates were not available. He said the vacancies would be treated as unreserved and filled on merit.

Kamran Michael said that due to equal rights to the minorities could result in establishment of a democratic society. He said that the minorities had not only played their role in creation of Pakistan but were also performing an important role in strengthening the country. He said the Christian educational institutions were nationalised in the past which affected their performance. He said that went to Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif who fulfilled his promise regarding equal rights to minorities and allocated five percent quota in the government jobs for minorities in the province.

The minister said the PML-N leadership was supporting minorities as per the sayings of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

He said the Punjab government had given scholarship of Rs.1.5 crore to the students of minorities, adding that for the first time in the history with the cooperation of Tevta, five percent quota had been allocated in technical institutions for minorities and initially, Punjab government had allocated budget of Rs.1.25 crore which would further be increased.

Provincial Parliamentary Secretary for Human Rights Khalil Tahir Sindhu said the five percent quota would be in addition to those applicants who would be selected on open merit on any government vacancy. He said according to the quota, the number of Christian teachers in 34,000 educators to be recruited would be 1,750.

He said that Christian community has always played positive role in promotion of education in Pakistan and appointment of Christian youth in such a large number would help in improving the standard of education in Punjab.

Smokers’ Corner: It’s a shame

Nadeem F. PARACHA
Sunday, 16 Aug, 2009

Hardly a week had passed after the shameful attacks on the lives and livelihood of the besieged Christian community of Gojra, that a well-known Islamic televangelist appeared on his show on a local TV channel and freely exhibited the audacity to explain this attack by vicious Islamic sectarian organisations as a conspiracy by the West to make Pakistanis question the contentious Blasphemy Laws.

First of all, as usual, before spouting this claptrap, such TV hosts have absolutely no substantive proofs ever to back their demagogic finger-pointing rituals.

But utmost is the fact that the tongue-wagging gentleman had himself been embroiled last year in a stunning controversy where he was directly accused by his former party, the MQM, and some bold journalists, for initiating and encouraging attacks against Punjab’s Ahmadiyya community through his show.

Thus, what moral right does this highly animated fellow has to even address the issue of the attacks in Gojra, let alone offer bizarre and thoroughly unreasonable theories, pointing fingers at the usually elusive and unsubstantiated conglomerate of conspirators?

His self-righteous and delusional take on the said issue must have come as a hurtful bolt of insensitivity to those who lost their loved ones in the insane fires of fanaticism that almost completely burned down the Christian community in Gojra.

I would also like to question the mainstream TV channel he is a part of; a channel that usually loves to harp about its love for democracy, tolerance and justice, but continues to give wide open spaces to so-called ‘experts’ and ‘Islamic scholars’ who have actually turned religion into a licence to rationalise hate and half-truths.

It was a disgrace watching the same gentleman gleaming and rubbing his hands last year as one of his ‘scholar’ guests lashed out at the Ahmadiyya community, creating a tragic commotion against the community in Lahore.

The host showed not even the slightest indication of expressing any kind of remorse, and neither did the channel even when certain leading newspapers ran stories, editorials and articles on the event.

Next up was his even more bizarre reaction to the Swat girl’s flogging episode. He first condemned the event, mainly because his channel was one of the first ones to break the horrifying news.

However soon, the host suddenly took a sharp turn and started hurling abuse at the supposed ‘agents’ of the West and India, who he claimed were behind the flogging ‘drama,’ and also mocked liberal Pakistanis for exaggerating the issue.

He called such Pakistanis ‘enlightened’ with such venom and sarcasm that it seemed he was rooting for obscurantist darkness over spiritual and secular enlightenment.

After all, the whole notion of obscurantism is tailor-made for exactly such characters who hide behind their televised celebratory status, constructed from unsubstantiated accusations, a warped understanding of religion and politics, and more so, a smug and arrogant insensitivity towards the emotionally venerable sides of human nature.

The truth is, such men, who are these days a dime a dozen on the mainstream electronic media for entirely cynical economic reasons on the part of the channels who hire them in their mad race for ratings, have been of no service at all to the religion and the country that they claim they are there to save from supposed ‘anti-Islam/Pakistan forces.’

Not even once have these elusive forces convincingly been exposed — at least never through any academically and journalistically sound proofs and sources, but instead rhetorical hate speeches or a messy jumbling up of bits and pieces taken from populist conspiracy theories found in anarchic pulp literature, unsubstantiated cyber rants, and low-budget B-movie ‘documentaries’ are used to build fiery narratives that claim to offer ‘facts’ and ‘expose’ the workings of the forces that are creating sectarian, religious and political turmoil in Pakistan.

The fact that the channel actually decided to give its host the space and freedom to comment the way he did on the Gojra incident when the scars of the event were still fresh and bleeding, shows just how obsessive we become to at once promote and propagate half-truths just to defend and obscure the hollowness of that pretence of tolerance and equality we all love to portray.

A shame indeed.

(Dawn)

Gojra tragedy: Govt to take action against senior officials

Dawn Report
Saturday, 24 Oct, 2009

About his proposed suspension, the district nazim of Toba Tek Singh argued that Punjab local government board officials were aware that district nazims enjoyed no powers to control law and order.

LAHORE: The Punjab government will initiate disciplinary action against the Toba Tek Singh district nazim and a number of senior officers who have been held responsible for negligence and dereliction of duty by a judicial inquiry conducted by Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman into the Gojra incident that occurred on Aug 1.

According to information released by the provincial government on Friday, the action would be taken against Toba district nazim Abdus Sattar, Faisalabad DIG Ahmed Raza Tahir, former Toba DCO Imran Sikandar, SSP Inkasar Khan, DSP Raja Ghulam Abbas, SI Liaquat, SI Mushtaq Ahmad and ASI Ibrar.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had soon after the incident announced that government officials found guilty of negligence and dereliction of duty would not be spared irrespective of their rank.

As per the government decision, the case of district nazim Abdus Sattar is being sent to the local government commission for immediate suspension and action under the relevant laws.

Faisalabad RPO/DIG Ahmad Raza Tahir and SSP Inkasar Khan have been made OSDs and their services placed at the disposal of the federal government with recommendations that they may be suspended immediately and disciplinary action be initiated against them.

Faisalabad Region’s special branch SP in-charge Ziaullah Niazi has been suspended with immediate effect and disciplinary action is being taken against him while Imran Sikandar Baloch, who was Toba DCO at that time, is being repatriated to the federal government with the recommendation that disciplinary action be initiated against him.

DSP Raja Ghulam Abbas, ASI Ibrar, SI Liaquat and SI Mushtaq Ahmad have been suspended and disciplinary action is being initiated against them.

Official sources said the report mentioned that the provincial home secretary and the IGP could have taken more stringent measures to control the situation.

TOBA TEK SINGH: Chaudhry Abdul Sattar told newsmen that district nazims had never been given administrative powers regarding the law and order situation.

He, however, said the then DCO had written to the DPO to impose Section 144 at Gojra. He said he immediately imposed a ban on gathering of five or more people when the DPO forwarded the request to him.

About his proposed suspension, the district nazim said that Punjab local government board officials were already aware that district nazims enjoyed no such powers as to control law and order.

The district nazim said he would explain his position when the board summoned him.

(Dawn)

Officers guilty of misconduct in Gojra riots appointed OSDs

LAHORE: The Punjab government has surrendered the services of three officers found guilty of misconduct in the Gojra riots. In the light of inquiry conducted by Justice Hameedur Rehman, the Services and General Administration Department (S&GAD) has surrendered the services of Faisalabad Regional Police Officer (RPO) Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Ahmed Raza Tahir, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Inkasar Ahmed Khan and Toba Tek Singh District Coordination Officer (DCO) Imran Sikandar to the federal government over negligence and misconduct. All three officers were appointed officers on special duty (OSD). The Punjab government requested the federal government to proceed on the charges of misconduct against the officers. staff report

(Daily Times)

Disciplinary action against officers for Gojra violence

Updated at: 2045 PST, Friday, October 23, 2009


LAHORE: Punjab government has decided to initiate disciplinary action against District Nazim Toba Tek Singh and a number of senior officers and officials who have been held responsible for negligence and dereliction of duty in the light of inquiry report of Justice Iqbal Hameed-ur-Rehman regarding the incidents of violence in Gojra on August 1, 2009.

Those against whom action is being taken include District Nazim Toba Tek Singh, Abdus Sattar, DIG Faisalabad, Ahmed Raza Tahir, former DCO Toba Tek Singh, Imran Sikandar, SSP, Inkasar Khan, DSP Raja Ghulam Abbas, SI Liaqat, SI Mushtaq Ahmad and ASI Ibrar.

Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif had announced after the Gojra incidents that government officials found guilty of negligence and dereliction of duty will not be spared, irrespective of their rank.

In accordance with the decision of Punjab government, the case of District Nazim Abdus Sattar is being sent to Local government for immediate suspension and action under the relevant laws.

RPO/DIG Faisalabad Ahmad Raza Tahir and SSP Inkasar Khanare being posted as OSD and their services are being placed at the disposal of federal government with the recommendations that they may be suspended immediately and disciplinary action be initiated against them.

SP Incharge Special Branch Faisalabad Region Zia Ullah Niazi has been suspended with immediate effect and disciplinary action is being initiated against him while Imran Sikandar Baloch who was DCO Toba Tek Singh at that time is being repatriated to the federal government with the recommendation that disciplinary action be initiated against him.

Similarly, DSP Raja Ghulam Abbas, ASI Ibrar, SI Liaqat and SI Mushtaq Ahmad have been suspended and disciplinary action is being initiated against them.

(The News International)

Pakistani Christians fear more extremist attacks

By Khurram Shahzad (AFP) – Oct 7, 2009

GOJRA, Pakistan — Almas Hameed lost seven relatives when an angry mob burnt down his home in a rampage against Pakistan's minority Christian community and lives in fear that more violence is looming.

Standing in the wreckage of his home in Gojra in Pakistan's political heartland of Punjab nearly two months after bloody riots left more than 40 houses torched, he recalls the moment his family died.

"We were hiding in our bedroom after our father was killed by gunfire. But they did not leave us -- they threw chemicals to burn the whole family," he told AFP.

"I lost my wife, two children, father, brother, sister-in-law and her mother in the attack," he said showing photos of his loved ones.

"We are not safe here, we are hiding from extremists who want to eliminate us from this town... We are still receiving calls from the extremists, they frequently give us death threats," said Hameed.

Gojra, 50 kilometres (30 miles) from industrial hub Faisalabad, was until recently famous only for producing a number of hockey stars, with no history of tensions between the 495,000 Muslims and 35,000 Christians.

But on August 1, a mob set upon Christian homes and churches, after rumours spread that pages of the Koran had been ripped up at a Christian wedding.

The exact trigger of the deadly rampage remains unclear, but a report by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and witnesses said that local mosques were spreading rumours.

"There is a group of extremists promoting a violent version of Islam which is dangerous for the country," said the Bishop of Faisalabad Joseph Coutts.

Tensions and fears escalated on September 11 when about 100 people, mostly youths, attacked a Catholic church in Sambrial district near the Indian border after accusing a Christian man, Fanish Masih, of desecrating the Koran.

Masih was arrested under the country's controversial blasphemy law but died in Sialkot jail. Police said he committed suicide but the community blames police torture for the death.

Christians, who make up less than three percent of Pakistan's 167 million population and are generally impoverished and marginalised, claim the blasphemy laws are used as an excuse to victimise them.

The law was introduced by former military ruler Zia ul-Haq, who passed tough Islamic legislation and whose rule from 1977-1988 was seen as critical in the development of extremist Islam in parts of Pakistan.

The blasphemy law carries the death penalty, although no one has yet been executed for the crime. Human rights activists want the legislation repealed, saying it is exploited and encourages extremism.

The government is at pains to play down the tensions amid heightened fears of widening unrest in a country already troubled by an insurgency by religious hardliners, and is trying to reassure the Christian community.

Shahbaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab province and brother of opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, ordered reconstruction of the Christian homes and dozens of Muslim labourers are engaged in rebuilding the houses.

Kamran Michael, provincial minister for minorities affairs, said nearly 2.5 million dollars had been allocated for the rebuilding.

"We will make sure that peace returns to the area," said Michael, himself a Christian.

Despite government assurances, Hameed and his fellow Christians remain fearful, and doubt the government can guarantee their safety.

"Our Muslim friends are also helpless, they express their sympathies by telephone but they are conscious that their contacts with us will create problems and extremists would declare them non-Muslims," Hameed said.

Father Shabir, a priest in Gojra, said he just wanted the community to be able to live without fear that the blasphemy laws could be used against them.

"The government is trying hard to normalise the situation, but we are not safe until they take concrete steps to protect us," he said.

Talat Masood, a well-known analyst, said tensions between the communities had risen since the US-led "war on terror", but believes the Gojra riots did not symbolise a deep-rooted hatred between Muslims and Christians.

"It is more dictated by economic considerations like property disputes or the forcible sale and purchase of land," he said, adding that the blasphemy laws were often used to exploit Christians for financial gain.

(AFP)

PA unanimously condemns Gojra violence

* Minority MPAs criticise government over poor response to tragedy

Staff Report

LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly (PA) has unanimously passed a resolution condemning the attack on Christian families in Gojra amidst criticism by minority members over the poor handling of the situation by the Punjab government.

The PA passed this resolution on Tuesday and demanded stern action against the perpetrators of violence.

Presenting the motion in the House, Michael said, “The House condemns the incidents that occurred in Koriyan village on July 30 and in Christian Colony, Gojra on August 1 and expresses complete solidarity with the relatives of innocent people who lost their lives. The House expresses complete solidarity with the Christian community in Pakistan and assures that minorities will be given complete protection.” After the resolution was passed, opposition MPA Mohsin Khan Leghari, on a point of order, asked Law Minister Rana Sanaullah to inform the House about the findings of the commission set up for judicial inquiry into the killings. Sanaullah said the committee had completed its work, however, he could not inform the House about the findings before discussing the issue with Chief Minister (CM) Shahbaz Sharif.

Poor response: Minority MPAs were not satisfied despite the resolution being passed. MPA Pervaiz Rafique expressed complete dissatisfaction over the poor response of the government to the violence in Gojra. He said the killings had been portrayed as a ‘dispute’, but was actually an attack on minorities. He said the people who were involved in the attack had not been arrested so far.

(Daily Times, October 21, 2009)

Gojra inquiry report given to govt

Saturday, October 10, 2009
By By Our Correspondent
LAHORE

Lahore High Court (LHC) registrar Tahir Pervaiz on behalf of Justice Iqbal Hameed-ur-Rehman has handed over the inquiry report of Gojra incident to the Punjab government.

According to a press statement on Friday, the unfortunate incident took place at Gojra on August 1,2009.

The competent authority had appointed Mr Justice Iqbal Hameed-ur-Rehman as one-man inquiry tribunal on 2-08-2009 for finding out facts about the sad episode.

A full-fledged campaign was also launched through media to create awareness amongst the people, persuading them to appear before the Tribunal for recording their statements.

Justice Iqbal Hameed-ur-Rehman commenced inquiry proceedings on August 3. He visited the place of the incident and, later on, held day-to-day inquiry proceedings at his Camp Office at Gojra.

The Tribunal held proceedings at the Principal Seat of the LHC only for a couple of days for recording statements of the local officials.

It recorded the statements of 580 affectees, and also the voluntary witnesses. It took two months to complete the comprehensive report.

(The News International)

BREAKING NEWS: Taliban Threatens To Kill More Christians

SARGODHA, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- Fighters linked to the militant Taliban group have threatened to kill Christians and burn their homes in Pakistan's Punjab province if they don't meet their demands.

In a letter sent to the Christian community in the northeastern city of Sargodha, Taliban militants said Christians should convert to Islam, pay an Islamic tax imposed on religious minorities, known as 'Jizya tax', or leave the country.

If Christians refuse to accept these choices, Christians “will be killed, their property and homes will be burnt to ashes and their women treated as sex slaves,” said the letter, which was distributed to BosNewsLife and other media by rights group International Christian Concern (ICC). The Christians “themselves would be responsible for this,” the letter added.

News of the statement emerged as Pakistan's army prepared for a ground offensive elsewhere in Pakistan, in South Waziristan, following a string of brazen attacks, believed to be part of a Taliban campaign, that killed more than 150 people in the last two weeks.

IN CROSS-FIRE

Christians have been in the cross-fire or directly targeted by Islamic militants with links to the Taliban and al-Qaida. Militants have accused them of representing an evil Western religion and of supporting the U.S.-led war on terror.

It was not immediately clear which faction within the Taliban sent the threatening letter, but local Christian leaders apparently took the statement seriously.

Reverend Zaheer Khan, pastor of Maghoo Memorial Church, Reverend Aamir Azeem, pastor of United Christians Church and Reverend Zafar Akhter, pastor of United Presbyterian Church apparently each received a copy of threatening letter.

Other Christian institutions reportedly included St Peter’s Middle School, the Sargodha Institute of Technology, Sargodha Catholic High School, St John's Primary School and Fatima Hospital.

Besides these Christian institutions, the letter was also sent to a key center of Shiite Muslims, the Immam-Bar-Gha, ICC said. Shiites are a minority Muslim group in Pakistan where the majority of the population is Sunni Muslim.

"SOFT TARGETS"

ICC representative Jonathan Racho told BosNewsLife in a statement that “Christians in Pakistan are soft targets for attacks by Islamic extremists. Over the past four months alone, 12 Christians have been killed by Muslims due to their faith.”

Racho said ICC has been “alarmed by the increase in attacks against Christians in Pakistan. We urge Pakistani officials to take the threatening letters seriously and take measures to protect the Christians and their institutions from attacks.”

ICC said it had urged Christians around the world to contact Pakistani embassies in their countries and express concern about the situation. (With reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos).

Taliban in Pakistan warns Christian leaders to convert to Islam or face dire consequences

Washington, D.C. (October 16, 2009)–International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that on October 6, members of the Taliban sent threatening letters in Sargodha, Pakistan warning Christian leaders to convert to Islam or face dire consequences.

A copy of the letter obtained by ICC warns Christians to convert to Islam, pay Jizya tax (an Islamic tax imposed on religious minorities) or leave the country. If Christians refuse to accept the choices given to them, the letter explains that they “would be killed, their property and homes would be burnt to ashes and their women would be treated as sex slaves. And they themselves would be responsible for this.”

Rev. Zaheer Khan, Pastor of Maghoo Memorial Church, Rev. Aamir Azeem, pastor of United Christians Church and Rev. Zafar Akhter, pastor of United Presbyterian Church each received a copy of threatening letter.

The Islamists sent the letters to the following Christian institutions: St Peter’s Middle School, Sargodha Institute of Technology, Sargodha Catholic High School, St John's Primary School and Fatima Hospital.

Besides the Christian institutions, the letter was also sent to the main Immam-Bar-Gha (Shiite Muslim’s gathering hall). Shiites are a minority Muslim group in Pakistan where the majority of the population is Sunni Muslim.

ICC’s Jonathan Racho said, “Christians in Pakistan are soft targets for attacks by Islamic extremists. Over the past four months alone, 12 Christians have been killed by Muslims due to their faith. We are alarmed by the increase in attacks against Christians in Pakistan. We urge Pakistani officials to take the threatening letters seriously and take measures to protect the Christians and their institutions from attacks.”

Please contact the embassy of Pakistan in your country to bring this situation to their attention and ask them to protect Christians from violence.

Pakistani Embassies:

USA: (202) 243-6500

Canada: (613) 238-7881

UK: 0870-005-6967

Persecution of minorities and women in South Asia

October 14, 2009

Right before the end of British rule in Indian sub-continent in 1947, several riot amongst various religious groups, mainly amongst Muslims and Hindus took place in India and Pakistan [the then West and East Pakistan], causing severe rise of religious hatred amongst the people in the region. Subsequently, massive Muslim persecution in Gujrat, Sikh Persecution in Punjab by the Indian government, persecution of Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh, Persecution of Christians in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh as well persecution of religious minorities in almost all the countries in South Asia gradually generated deep rooted hatred amongst the people belonging to various religious beliefs.

The Partition of India was the partition of British India that led to the creation, on August 14, 1947 and August 15, 1947, respectively, of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan [later Islamic Republic of Pakistan and People's Republic of Bangladesh] and the Union of India [later Republic of India]. The partition of India included the geographical division of the Bengal province of British India into East Pakistan and West Bengal [India], and the similar partition of the Punjab province into West Punjab [later Punjab - Pakistan and Islamabad Capital Territory] and East Punjab [later Punjab – India, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh], and also the division of other assets, including the British Indian Army, the Indian Civil Service and other administrative services, the Indian railways, and the central treasury. The partition was promulgated in the Indian Independence Act 1947 and resulted in the dissolution of the British Indian Empire.

In the aftermath of Partition, the princely states of India, which had been left by the Indian Independence Act 1947 to choose whether to accede to India or Pakistan or to remain outside them, were all incorporated into one or other of the new dominions. The question of the choice to be made in this connection by Jammu and Kashmir led to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 and other wars and conflicts between India and Pakistan.

Stable democratic nation like India could not free itself of curse of communalism even more than fifty years after independence. If anything it has been getting worse year after year. There has been not a single year in post-independence period, which has been free of communal violence though number of incidents may vary. The year 2002 has been one of the worst years in this matter right from the beginning as the Gujarat carnage began in the very beginning of the year. In the year 2002 the first reported riot took place in Kozhikode [Calicut], Kerala on 3rd January. In the clashes between two communities [Hindus and Muslims] five persons were killed. The clashes occurred on the question of eve teasing. The whole region came in the grip of violence. More than twenty persons were injured including five women. Properties worth millions of rupees were destroyed. A heavy police bandobast was made to bring the situation under control. Kerala is generally thought to be free of communal violence. But occasionally it also experiences such frenzy and bout of communal violence. However, it is generally brought under control as the Kerala government usually does not allow things to go out of had.

Gujarat was next to come under intense bout of communal carnage. It was of the kind, which India had never experienced accept at the time of partition. The communal carnage in Gujarat shook whole world. It was difficult to believe such intense communal frenzy could be incited by the BJP for its political gains. More than 2000 people were killed most cruelly in this carnage according to very reliable sources though the Government admits only about 1000 dead.

The Viswa Hindu Parishad [VHP], the Bajrang Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] gave a call for bandh [general strike] on 28th February and violent incidents started from the morning of 28th February, particularly in Ahmedabad. And before the sun set on 28th February more than 100 persons were killed in Ahmedabad alone. Most ghastly incidents took place in a place called Naroda Patia where more than 80 persons were burnt alive including women and children and number of women were raped in full gaze of public. The other ghastly incident took place in Gulbarg Society, Chamanpura where about 40 persons were burnt alive including a former member of parliament named Ahsan Jafri from Congress Party.

What is worse the Chief Mister Narendra Modi justified such frenzy and described it as reaction to action in Godhra. And all this happened with full complicity of the police and bureaucracy. The honest officers who did not allow carnage in their areas were instantly transferred by the Narendra Modi Government.

Some ministers who led the mobs have been named in case lodged after the incident. Many mosques and mausoleums were demolished and ground was leveled. Some accounts maintain about 700 such religious structures were brought down or severely damaged. Ahmedabad, Baroda, Mehsana and Panchmahal districts were the worst affected districts covering entire north and central Gujarat. There have been various estimates of the properties destroyed but generally it is maintained properties worth more than US$ 1.5 billion were looted or burnt. The business lost due to closures and migration of labour is several times this figure. Hundreds of Muslim families were totally uprooted. The carnage continued for more than five months.

The next riot took place in Kaithal, at Indian state of Haryana. Though the cause of the violence on disturbances on 28th February is not clear but it seems to be related to Gujarat incidents. According to The Hindustan Times report Shiv Sena, Viswa Hindu Parishad [VHP] and Bajrang Dal mobs pulled down a mosque and caused extensive damage to two others. They damaged at least four mausoleums and enforced a complete bandh. Prohibitory orders were later clamped down on the town.

During the general strike Maharashtra called by the Shiv Sena, Viswa Hindu Parishad [VHP] and Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] on 1st March 2002 to protest the setting ablaze of coach of the Sabarmati Express on 27th February 2002 in Godhra a violent mob went on rampage in Murbad 80 kilometer from Mumbai. Fortunately Murbad was the only town affected during the call for bandh by the Sangh Parivar.

During the general strike in Murbad in India the Bajrang Dal alliance began looting and burning Muslims shops. It also looted the houses of two prosperous grain merchants and set fire to a jeep [cross-country vehicle] belonging to a transporter. The general strike was total and all shops were closed. The mob was also determined to attack the families of some of the well to do Muslim shopkeepers. But they fled minutes before the attack and saved themselves.

The Police claimed that it fired 13 rounds in the air but the Minorities Commission said that it did not come across anyone who could corroborate the police claim. The Police claimed that they had arrested 32 people including the local Bajrang Dal leaders and charged them with attempted murder, arson and lootings. The Muslims are a microscopic minority in Morbad and are afraid of giving any details of damage to the madrasa and are praising the role of the police, according to the Minorities Commission.

On 17th March 2002 communal incidents took place in Loharu in Bhivani district of Haryana in India. Loharu was once under a Muslim ruler. There is thus Muslim population in this town. A mob of three hundred incited by the rumour of cow slaughter attacked two mosques and at least 15 shops and houses belonging to the minority community. The police had to fire in the air when the mob could not be controlled by tear gas charges.

When the people belonging to the majority community heard that a cow has been taken for slaughter in one of the mosques, it attacked and set fire to this mosque and shops nearby. According to a media reports quoting the police sources, a mob of 300 Shiv Sainiks [Soldiers of Shiva] set fire at another mosque near the railway station and many shops in the adjacent area.

Next incidents of communal violence in India took place in three places in Rajasthan in which three persons were killed on 25th March 2002 on the occasion of Muharram. The immediate provocation was the holding of poornahuti yagnas [a Hindu religious ritual] and kirtans [Hindu religious songs] at various temples on the route of Muharram processions.

Curfew had to be clamped in the town of Gangapur, 80 kilo meters from Sawai Madhopur, in central Rajasthan where 3 people were killed and 15 injured in police firing. According to the police, violence broke out when activists of the Viswa Hindu Parishad [VHP], Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] and Bajrang Dal sat inside an ancient Hanumanji temple for religious rituals. They began to chant provocative anti-Muslim slogans when the Muharram procession came closer to the temple.

Persecution of Sikhs:

Operation Blue Star, which continued during 3–6 June 1984 was an Indian military operation ordered by Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister of India, to remove Sikh separatists who were amassing weapons in the Golden Temple [Holy Temple of Sikhs] in Amritsar [India]. The operation was launched in response to a deterioration of law and order in the Indian state of Punjab.

The operation was carried out by Indian army troops with tanks and armoured vehicles. Militarily successful, the operation aroused immense controversy, and the government's justification for the timing and style of the attack are still under debate. Operation Bluestar was included in the Top 10 Political Disgraces by India Today magazine.

Official reports put the number of deaths among the Indian army at 83 and the number of civilian deaths at 492, though independent estimates ran much higher.

The impact of the military assault, its aftermath and the increased tensions led to assaults on members of the Sikh community within India and uproar amongst Sikhs worldwide. In India, many Sikhs resigned from armed and civil administrative office and returned their government awards.

Indira Gandhi first asked Lieutenant General S. K. Sinha, then Vice-Chief of Indian Army and who was to succeed as the Army chief, to prepare a position paper for assault on the Golden Temple. Lieutenant General Sinha advised against any such move, given the sacrilegious outlook from pious Sikhs. He suggested the government adopt an alternative solution. A controversial decision was made to replace him with General Arun Vaidya as the Chief of the Indian army. General Vaidya was assisted by Lieutenant General K. Sunderjee as Vice-Chief. Operation Blue Star was eventually planned and controlled by them.

On 3 June 1984, a 36-hour curfew was imposed on the state of Punjab with all methods of communication and public travel suspended. Electricity supplies were also interrupted, creating a total blackout and cutting off the state from the rest of India and the world. Complete censorship was placed on all types of media.

The Indian Army stormed the Golden Temple on the night of 5 June under the command of Major General Kuldip Singh Brar. The forces had full control of the Golden Temple by the morning of 7 June, 1984. Bhindranwale, Lieutenant General Shahbeg Singh and several other militant leaders were killed in the operation along with a large number of followers and civilians. The armed forces also suffered many casualties. Operation Blue Star coincided with a Sikh annual festival. Pilgrims, including the elderly and children, were trapped inside the temple when the operation began and many were reported as wounded and killed as a result.

Sikh reaction in India began with the decade old persecution of Sikhs, mostly by the Hindu majorities as well as state-partonized terror on them. Indian government enforced total media blackout and stopped local and international media from covering this tragic blood shed of the decade. Before the attack by army a media blackout was imposed in Punjab. The Times reporter Michael Hamlyn reported that journalists were picked up from their hotels at 5 a.m. in a military bus, taken to the adjoining border of the state of Haryana and "were abandoned there".

Brahma Chellaney, who was then the South Asia correspondent of the Associated Press, was the only foreign reporter who managed to stay on in Amritsar despite the media blackout. His dispatches, filed by telex, provided the first non-governmental news reports on the bloody operation in Amritsar. His first dispatch, front-paged by the New York Times, The Times of London and The Guardian, reported a death toll about twice of what authorities had admitted. According to the dispatch, about 780 militants and civilians and 400 troops had perished in fierce gunbattles. The high casualty rates among security forces were attributed to "the presence of such sophisticated weapons as medium machine guns and rockets in the terrorists' arsenal."

Chellaney also reported that "several" suspected Sikh militants had been shot with their hands tied. The dispatch, after its first paragraph reference to "several" such deaths, specified later that "eight to 10" men had been shot in that fashion. In that dispatch, Mr. Chellaney interviewed a doctor who said he was picked up by the army and forced to conduct postmortems despite the fact he had never done any postmortem examination before. The number of causalities reported by Brahma Chellaney were far more than government reports, and the Indian government, which disputed his casualty figures accused him of inflammatory reporting. The Associated Press stood by the reports and figures, the accuracy of which was also "supported by Indian and other press accounts" according to Associated Press; and reports in The Times and The New York Times.

Whole of Punjab and especially the Golden Temple Complex was turned into a murderous mouse trap from where people could neither escape nor could they seek succor of any kind. The way the dead bodies were disposed off adds to the suspicions regarding the number and nature of the casualties. The bodies of the victims of military operation in Punjab were unceremoniously destroyed without any attempt to identify them and hand them over to their relatives. The government, after the operation, on the other hand, did every thing in its power to cover up the excesses of the army action. The most disturbing thing about the entire operation was that a whole mass of men, women, and children were ordered to be killed merely on the suspicion that some terrorists were operating from the Golden Temple and other Sikh temples in India.

Similar accusations of high handedness on part of Indian Army and allegations of human rights violation by security forces in Operation Blue Star and subsequent military operations in Punjab has been leveled by Justice V.M. Tarkunde, Mary Anne Weaver, Ram Narayan Kumar, a noted human rights lawyer, Joyce Pettigrew, a Swedish Anthropologist and many others.

Muslim women in India:

On the completion of five decades of independence, women in Muslim communities face considerable challenges as citizens of India and as members of India's largest minority. Their poor socio-economic status reflects a lack of social opportunity which, though not a feature exclusive to Muslim women, is exacerbated by their marginal status within an overall context of social disadvantage for most Indian women. This point was highlighted in a study of 39 districts in 1981 [where the population of Muslims ranged from 20 per cent to 95 per cent - which could be considered a fairly representative sample of the status of Muslims in India]. In the study, the literacy rate of Muslim women was found to be 21.91 per cent - lower than even the poor national average of 24.82 per cent.

According to government reports, Muslim women are among the poorest, educationally disenfranchised, economically vulnerable, politically marginalized group in the country. In 1983, the Gopal Singh Committee instituted by the government, declared Muslims as a "backward" community in India. A central feature of this "backwardness" is their exceedingly poor socio-economic status, particularly of Muslim women. Most Muslim women remain "invisible" workers in the informal economy. The Muslim share in public employment is less than 3 per cent. Within this picture of marginalization, it is a predictable certainty that the corresponding figures for Muslim women are further skewed towards the bottom. A lack of information on Muslim women contributes to the reinforcement of cultural stereotypes, serving to obfuscate their life experiences and struggles. Consequently, the notion that Muslim women's status in India is attributable to certain intrinsic, immutable "Islamic" features or that their social status derives solely from Muslim laws, is widely prevalent.

On the other hand, the appropriation of Muslim women's issues by a vocal and politically influential male Muslim constituency for political purposes poses a considerable challenge to Muslim women's legal empowerment. This was highlighted during the Shah Bano case and the passage of the Muslim Women's Bill in 1986.

Furthermore, it is crucial for Muslims "women and men" to debate among themselves the possible reasons and remedies for their poor status as citizens of India.

The political ascendence of the Hindu right-wing and its inherent link between politics and religion has threatened India's secular fabric. The rise of communal violence in the last two decades has undermined secular law and violated constitutional ideals of religious non-discrimination, protection of human rights, implementation of social justice and the equality of all Indian citizens as well as principles of international human rights law. Right-wing illiberalism, communal prejudice and intolerance of diversity bodes ill for all Indian women; in the case of Muslim women it heightens physical and economic insecurity, limits possibilities of renegotiating their status with Muslim men and precipitates Muslim militancy.

The lack of social opportunities for Muslim women is a crucial issue needing urgent action. An improvement in literacy rates would directly influence Muslim women's socio-economic and political status as citizens of India.

The acknowledgement of the universality of women's rights by the international community is relevant to the debate on Islam and women's rights, particularly with reference to women's rights in the family. The formation of forums and associations of Muslim men and women's initiatives in the 1990s is an important step towards facilitating public debate on Muslim women's issues. Muslim women and men must collaborate with individuals and organizations who are committed to the realization of women's human rights. The alliance of Muslim women with the women's movement in India, as well as movements for secularism, democracy and human rights, are crucial for forging a common front against forces opposed to women's self-determination.

Christian persecution in India:

When Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was in the US in September [2000], the National Association of Asian Christians [NAAC] in the US paid US$ 50,000 to the New York Times to publish "an Open Letter to the Honorable Atal Bihari Vajpayee, prime minister of India."

While "warmly welcoming the PM," The NAAC expressed deep concern about the persecution of Christians in India by extremist [meaning Hindu] groups mentioning as examples "the priest, missionaries and church workers who have been murdered," the nuns "raped," and the potential enacting of conversion laws, which would make "genuine" conversions illegal. The letter concluded by saying "that Christians in India today live in fear."

Many Hindu religious leaders feel Christianity is a real threat today for Indian democracy and ´integrity´.

Rape of a nun and brutality on Churches:

Case – 1: A nun was raped in 2008 in the Indian city of Mumbai. Spanish born sister Antolina Martinez de Maranon of the Daughters of Charity, who works in Mumbai with leprosy, tuberculosis and AIDS patients, said in her letter that the violence began in Orissa, "but has now spread to many more states, even to the state we call the Rome of India, Bangalore, where our provincial house is located."

"Many churches have been profaned there, Masses have even been disrupted, priests and others have been beaten, many things have been destroyed, and they are sowing panic."

"Nobody is doing anything to stop the radicals from sowing panic and hatred in the minds of simple people and fear and insecurity in the minds of Christians," Sister Martinez said.

"The Indian bishops want to draw attention to this all over the world, in order to get the international community to react," she continued. "Otherwise nothing will be done, even though the central government has warned the extremists. Nevertheless, we are dealing here with the opposition party, which has many economic resources and many members trained to hate Christians," she explained.

Sister Martinez pointed out that news of the death of a priest or nun in some part of India comes each day. "The Daughters of Charity are very protected by the Virgin Mary, even those who are in the north amidst the violence. We recognize that and we give thanks to God," she said.

Case – 2: On August 25, 2008, India's Orissa state government has been accused of failing to take action against the perpetrators of the gang rape of a 28 year old Catholic nun.

India´s largest English daily, The Hindu reports the Orissa government has failed to take any action against those who committed the gang rape of the nun and the brutal attack on a Catholic priest who courageously resisted their attempts to force him to participate in the atrocity.

The incidents took place on August 25, 2008 at K. Nuagaon, 12 kilometres from the Baliguda subdivision in Kandhamal district in Orissa state in India. Both victims filed First Information Reports at the Baliguda police station. Sister Nirmala, Superior-General of the Missionaries of Charity, wrote to the Orissa Chief Minister and the Prime Minister specifying the atrocities.

The brutalisation of the nun and the priest by a mob raising anti-Christian, Hindutva slogans took place around 1pm at the site of the Divya Jyothi Pastor Centre.

The church was burnt the previous day in reprisal against the murder of an RSS activist, Lakshmanananda Saraswathi, and four of his associates on August 23 2008. The gang rape of the young nun, whose "virginity [was] grossly violated in public" took place in front of a police outpost with 12 policemen from the Orissa State Armed Police present and watching, according to Fr Thomas Chellan, the priest who was dragged out and badly beaten.

"Around 1:00 pm a gang came and pulled me and the Sister out of the house where we had taken shelter and started assaulting us," Father Chellan told Indian newspaper The Hindu in a telephone interview from Kerala where he was recuperating.

"My appeals to the policemen who were standing nearby and watching only resulted in further beating. At one point the nun slipped away to plead with the police for help but she was dragged back by the mob and her blouse torn," he said. The nun was gang raped in a nearby building, and he was doused with kerosene by the mob, which threatened to set him on fire. They were saved by a group of youth who took them to the police outpost where "one among the attackers was present with the police between 3pm and 9pm," Father Chellan said.

News of the K-Nuagaon atrocity was conveyed through mobile phones to several priests and nuns hiding in the forests, fearing for their lives as the anti-Christian hunt was on. The victims were taken to the Baliguda police station around 9:00 pm where they filed First Information Reports.

Father Augustine Kanjamala is a Verbite clergyman who teaches at the University of Mumbai [India]. He appealed to the Churches of the world to "express their protest to the government of India" which has remained "inactive" with regards to anti-Christian violence. He openly charges the Orissa state government for its increasingly explicit collusion with the pogrom currently underway against the community of faithful.

According to Father Kanjamala a plan to cleanse Orissa of its Christian population has been in the making for years, especially in the district of Kandhamal [where most of the atrocities have taken place] where Christians now constitute around 5 per cent of the population. Conversions by, development for and emancipation of Tribals and Dalits are confronted by Hindutva conservatism.

"On 24 December 2007, while the Christians were getting ready to celebrate the birth of Lord Jesus Christ, Swami Laxmananda Saraswati, a member of a Hindu fundamentalist organization [Vishwa Hindu Parishad] and its supporters attacked and destroyed many churches and prayer centres. A large number of Christians were injured and made homeless in the communally sensitive district of Kandhmal, in Orissa state, eastern India.

Exactly eight months later, on 23 August 2008 when the same seer and the Hindu community were preparing to celebrate the birthday of Lord Krishna [Janmashtami] in Jalespata ashram [monastery], he and four of his disciples were gunned down by tribal revolutionary Maoists.

That it was a premeditated attack is evident from the fact that he was warned in advance and that government authorities were aware of it. A local TV Channel reported that the murderers left a note on the spot of the murder that this was a revenge killing for the last December attack on the Christians.

Hindus were quick to accuse the Church of masterminding the murder of their revered religious leader, who was in his 80s, rather than accept the government´s view that the attack had a Maoist origin and color.

A meeting of Hindu leaders took place on the following day in Rourkela, also known as Steel City, where a decision for an immediate and violent retaliation was taken. The total success of the dawn to dusk strike in Orissa on 25 August, 2008 is clear evidence of the shocking reaction. The simultaneous unleashing of violent attacks on 35 Christian centres in Orissa on the evening of 25 August further confirms that the plan was organized.

All bomb attacks were directed at Christians and their institutions. The rampaging mob, seeking revenge for the Guru´s murder, destroyed the pastoral centre of the archdiocese of Bhuvaneshwar with a bomb. A priest and a nun working there were beaten up, stripped and paraded naked in order to humiliate them. Four other priests were severely beaten—one suffered severe burns and is now in critical conditions in Burla Medical College, in the district of Sambalpur. The nun was also gang raped by the mob.

The mob also ransacked a church-run orphanage near Burgarh, and the caretaker, Ms. Rajni Maji, was set ablaze and burned to death. A large number of churches, prayer centres, convents, hospitals, dispensaries and vehicles were attacked and torched. Some nuns received warned by mobile phone and either ran into the jungle or escaped by jeep to the neighbouring state of Chattisgarh.

A few lay people lost their lives while thousands ran for theirs into the forests; more than 200 houses were set on fire.The radical Hindu mobs defied the curfew and forced everyone and everything to shut down, bringing life to a stand still and the state virtually to its knees. The official death toll of 20 reported by the controlled media is totally false.

With 40 per cent of the population made up of Tribals and Dalits [outcasts] Orissa is one of the most underdeveloped states in the country.The Kandhamal district, which has seen high levels of anti-Christian violence in the last decade, is also where a significant number of Christian conversions have taken place in the same period. As Dalits who embrace Christianity achieve socio-economic progress, many Tribals have followed them in that path in recent times. Thus while Orissa's Christian population is less than 2 per cent, the Christian population in the district doubled in the last decade to reach the 5 per cent mark.

In January 1999, the Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons were burned to death by a mob led by one Dara Singh [convicted in 2003].Objecting to missionary activities, the murdered Hindu sage recently said: "The sooner Christians return to the Hindu fold the better it would be for the country."

Orissa was the first state in the country that passed legislation against religious conversion in 1967, followed later by other states.

Another factor also generates opposition to Christians. It is becoming increasingly clear that where Christian missionaries operate, important social changes take place. People develop, acting and living with greater dignity. Thus, as a result of education, even basic education, Tribals and Dalits are no longer willing to be used as cheap labour in farming. Their sense of dignity and their education have given them the courage to protest against their exploitation and oppression. In addition to such changes over the past two generations, Tribals are now moving in great numbers to the big cities. In Mumbai alone there are some 100,000 young Tribals or Adivasi from Orissa, all working in domestic service or small industrial plants. It is obvious that these changes are transforming Orissa´s socio-economic structure.

There are series of allegations of rape of nuns by the fanatics Hindus in various parts of India. In most cases, those violated nuns do not speak of such brutality fearing social wrath. In some cases, nuns were viodegraphed while being raped, and such video tapes were sold in Indian market as well as in the Middle East by organized crime racket. Alluring titles such as ´Raping virgin nun´ etc are given to such tapes and the crime racket are cashing millions by selling the sordid stories of the nuns in Christian missionaries.

Case – 3: Meena Lalita Barwa [29], a Roman Catholic nun was raped by a mob of fanatic Hindus in October 2008 and was paraded half-naked.

Sister Meena said that a mob of up to 50 men armed with sticks, axes, spades, crowbars, iron rods and sickles dragged her from the house where they were shelterin. One of the mob raped her, while two more held her down, and then a fourth tried to rape her again, before they paraded her, minus her blouse and underwear, along a road, she said.

When the crowd passed a group of a dozen policemen she begged for help, but they ignored her and talked in a "very friendly" manner to her attackers, she said. "State police failed to stop the crimes, failed to protect me from the attackers," she said. "I was raped and I don't want to be victimise[d] by the Orissa police. God Bless India, God bless you all."

Persecution of Ahmadiyya:

While some fanatic Islamists are demanding declaring Ahmadiyyas as ´non Muslims´, persecution of this religious group is continuing mostly in Pakistan and Bangladesh, while state authorities are completely silent on this extremely serious matter. There are also reports of persecution of Ahmadiyyas in Malaysia, Indonesia and other Muslim nations.

Indonesian government barred the Ahmadiyyas from visiting Mecca to perform Haj. At West Nusa Tenggara in Indonesia, provincial administration imposed the ban a long time ago, but the matter was not publicly anounced.

In Bangladesh, dozens of Ahmadiyya mosques were attacked and destroyed by Muslim fanatics. BNP led Islamist coalition government in 2004 imposed ban on religious books of Ahmadiyyas and police raided various mosques of this religious minority group and ransacked those places with the excuse of searching for banned publications.

Rana Ata-ul Karim [36] was killed on 6 August 2009 in Multan, Pakistan. He was murdered simply for being an Ahmadi. Karim, a well educated agriculturist, left his home for a few minutes in the afternoon and returned to find that his wife had been locked in their bedroom by three young men who had entered his home. He was later shot 3 times and died on the spot. The assailants immediately fled the scene.

Ahmadiyyas are arguably the most vilified minority across the Islamic world. They are not considered Muslims by mainstream branches of the religion. Founded in the 1880s by a religious figure named Ghulam Ahmad, Ahmadis differ with the mainstream on the death and return of Jesus, the concept of jihad and, most controversially, the question of whether the Prophet Mohammad was the last messenger from Allah. Ghulam claimed to have received messages himself from god, making him a later prophet.

Pakistan is hardly alone in discriminating against Ahmadis. In Indonesia, where they are known as the Ahmadiyah, they have been terrorized regularly, with their places of worship attacked by fundamentalists and members being banned from taking part in the Haj in some parts of the country. Laws were passed in Indonesia last year restricting their activities and prohibiting them from proselytizing. In many parts of Kyrgistan, they have been told to cease worshiping.

The depredations in Pakistan have been particularly distressing. Since the mid 1980s, the Ahmadiyyas have been dying in droves. Some 104 have been murdered in targeted attacks or lynchings and 117 others have escaped murder attempts, according to the community´s records. Other forms of harassment are also common: mosques have been demolished, set on fire and forcibly occupied and Ahmadiyya corpses have been dug up from Muslim graveyards.

Persecution of Hindu:

In Bangladesh and Pakistan, Hindus are regularly repressed by the religious majorities. Hundreds of cases of rape take place every year, most of which fail to reach the attention of the media. There are also series of allegations of abduction and forceful convertion of Hindu females to Islam. In most cases, these Hindu females are abducted and raped to put pressure on them in converting to Islam thus marrying a Muslim man.

Such notoriety take place almost o a daily basis, mostly in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Grabbing Hindu properties is another phenomenon of great concern. Muslims with social or political links, grab the properties of the Hindus thus in many cases forcing them to leave the country and migrate to India. Several Hindu rich families were evicted from their properties, while there had been murders of Hindus by the influential Muslims in the locality to create panic in the minds of this religious minority group.

According to a figure, only in 2008, more than 10,000 Hindu women and girls were raped in various parts of Bangladesh. The total number of such brutality would be several folds higher, if the cases of such notoriety in Pakistan and other Muslim nations are taken into consideration.

A large number of Hindu temples were destroyed in Bangladesh and Pakistan during since the independence of India in 1947. Most of the governments in the Muslim nations consider Hindus as ´second class citizen of the country´.

In Bangladesh, Muslim house-owners, while renting out homes to Hindu families, openly warn them to refrain from performing rituals every day. A Bangladeshi newspaper editor, who belongs to Hindu community said, he was instructed by his land-lord to refrain from blowing religious flute during their daily rituals.

Situation of religious minorities in most of the South Asian nations are truly volatile. This is becoming more complicated with the ongoing spread of religious hatred amongst the population, thus resulting in communal riot almost every year. Government in the respective countries, as well members of the civil societies should surely look into this issue with due urgency, before things turn worst.

(American Chronicle)