Pakistani minorities fall prey to Taliban

Christians, Sikhs, and Hindus tell of new attacks and threats. "We feel we have no protection," one cleric said.

By Kathy Gannon
Associated Press

KARACHI, Pakistan - Fauzia Abrar had finally gotten her crying baby to sleep when screaming men pounded on the steel doors of her home in the mostly Christian slum in the port city of Karachi.

Suddenly she heard shots, and the screaming grew louder: "Long live Taliban! Death to infidels!" The men forced their way into her house, hurled loose tiles and a glass at her and fired a shot. She fainted. As the Taliban gains a stronger foothold in Pakistan, increasingly violent assaults against religious minorities are further evidence of its growing power and influence.

In dozens of interviews from Karachi to Peshawar, Christians, Sikhs, and Hindus told of attacks and threats and expressed an overwhelming sense of fear. The watchdog Minority Rights Group International lists Pakistan as seventh on the list of 10 most dangerous countries for minorities, after Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Myanmar, and Congo.

"In Pakistan today there is a lot of feeling of fear by all the minorities," said the Rev. Richard D'Souza of St. Jude Church in Karachi. "We feel we have no protection." The trouble in D'Souza's parish started with graffiti on the church walls praising the Taliban and Islamic law, and condemning Christians as infidels. Young Christians in the neighborhood protested. Within days, 25 burly, bearded men rampaged through the neighborhood, beating Christians, pelting women with stones and setting fire to houses. An 11-year-old boy was killed. "The police never helped. None of us had weapons. The police just stood there," said Imran Masih, 26, who spent 10 days in the hospital after a bullet pierced his neck.

Dozens of Christian families fled. D'Souza said the parish is thinking of forming its own armed youth brigades. When he asked the government for armored personnel carriers, he said, two bored-looking policemen showed up for the Easter Sunday service and were gone the next day. Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan's minister for minorities affairs, said the government is trying to stop the Taliban through military operations. "Minorities can be easy and soft targets of these extremists, but these Taliban are committing such violent acts that everyone feels fear in their presence - the minority and the majority in Pakistan," said Bhatti, a Christian. Religious minorities represent 5 percent of Pakistan's 160 million people, according to the CIA World Factbook.

But Michael Javed, director of a peace council and a minister in southern Sindh, charged that census takers intentionally keep minority figures low to deny them greater representation. Christians alone represent 5 to 6 percent of the population, he said. Frightened Christians are trying to arm themselves, Javed said, pulling out a bulging file with more than 60 applications to buy weapons. Even Shiite Muslims have come under attack as the Sunni Taliban tears through the tribal areas. In the past two years, the Taliban has embraced a violently anti-Shiite group, Lashkar-e-Janghvi, unleashing a fresh wave of bitter bloodletting. More than 500 Shiite Muslims in the Kurram tribal agency have been killed in daily attacks.

The Taliban issued an ultimatum in March to the elders of 25 Sikh families in the Orakzai tribal agency near the Afghan border: Convert to Islam, join the jihad or pay 5 billion rupees - roughly $62 million - for protection.
"We couldn't pay that amount. We were farmers," said a young Sikh who asked to be identified only as Singh, because he was too terrified to give his full name or location. In a nervous whisper he recalled the Taliban's threat to take a Sikh leader to South Waziristan to decide his fate if the money wasn't paid.
The villagers persuaded the Taliban to reduce the amount to 12 million rupees or $150,000 - still a princely sum for the Sikh community. But Singh said they raised enough money to get their elder released, with a promise to pay the rest by March 29.

On March 28, he said, the Sikhs paid the full amount, and the Taliban promised to protect them. By 10 p.m. that day, the Taliban told Sikh elders they were preparing to attack. By 2 a.m., the elders had packed everyone into cars and trucks, and more than 150 Sikhs fled to Peshawar, the provincial capital. "What are we to do? We have nothing," Singh said. "We have asked the government of Pakistan, either relocate us to somewhere safe or send us to India." The lives of Hindus also are in danger, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

Last month, extremists attacked a Hindu Holi religious festival not far from the border with India, setting fire to a Hindu temple and destroying shops. Last year, a young Hindu worker was beaten to death at a factory in Karachi by fellow workers who accused him of insulting Islam. "We are under more and more of a threat because of these extremists, but we ourselves feel if we take the wrong step, even to tell of the wrong things, then it will be death for us," said Amarnath Motumal, a lawyer and head of the Karachi Hindu Panchayat, representing Hindus.