"Council of Churches: Pakistan failing to protect Christians"
("EarthTimes", August 3, 2009)
Geneva, Switzerland - The World Council of Churches said Monday it was
concerned Pakistan's leaders were not taking steps to prevent attacks against
the country's Christian minority, following three recent violent incidents
that have caused deaths and damage to property. Seven Christians were
"burned alive" on Saturday, the Geneva-based organization said, and 40 houses
belonging to members of churches were torched in Gojra, a city in the eastern
province of Punjab.
"The killings and destruction of houses could have been avoided if the
police and security forces were vigilant and had taken timely action against
the militant Islamic groups," wrote Samuel Kobia, the head of the WCC, to
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari.
Kobia said the Islamist groups "constantly threaten the Christian
minorities with false allegations of desecrating the Koran."
The riots on Saturday erupted when participants of a rally to protest the
alleged desecration of the Muslim holy book started hurling stones at the
Christian houses, triggering a brief exchange of fire between the two
groups.
Federal Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti said following the
incidents that the police and civilian administration did little to protect
Christians.
Tension had been growing between the two communities since 75 houses of
Christians were set ablaze in a nearby village two days earlier on the same
blasphemy charges.
Kioba called Saturday's incidents "carnage" and said Zardari should
prosecute those responsible and "ensure the safety and security" of minorities
in
the country.
Christians constitute between 2 and 3 per cent of Pakistan's 160 million
citizens.
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"Blasphemy laws, a pretext to attack Pakistan’s religious minorities"
By Fareed Khan ("AsiaNews", August 4, 2009)
Lahore, Pakistan – Pakistan’s parliament has unanimously condemned the
attacks against Christians as an inquiry gets underway to quickly find the
culprits. Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari announces a compensation
package for victims’ families. In spite of all of this Pakistani Christians
continue to endure violence and discrimination as the death toll in Gojra rose
to eight. For human rights activists and minority leaders blasphemy laws
are the cause of the problem.
Last night a private TV station announced that a 35-year-old Christian man
succumbed in Gojra hospital to the injuries he sustained last Saturday,
when a Muslim mob went out of control and attacked the local Christian
community.
Federal Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti and Punjab Governor Salmaan
Taseer handed a preliminary report to President Asif Ali Zardari on the recent
riots in Gojra where a semblance of calm is in place following the massive
deployment of security forces.
For his part President Zardari announced that families that lost a member
would get 500,000 rupees (US$ 6,000) as compensation, whilst families that
lost their homes, torched by Muslims extremists using a special fuel, would
get 300,000 rupees (US$ 3,600).
Meanwhile Lahore High Court’s Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman has reached
the town to start the judicial inquiry ordered by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza
Gilani.
Pakistan’s National Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution condemning
the Gojra killings and asking the Punjab government to bring the culprits to
justice. For the lawmakers the killings are conspiracy designed to defame
Pakistan and Islam.
Promises and announcements aside Pakistan’s Christian community is still
up in arms against the latest episode of violence committed in the name and
under the protection of the blasphemy laws, which have become a pretext to
attack religious minorities.
For Minorities Minister Bhatti, who is Catholic, the “allegations of
desecration of the holy Qur‘an, which were used as an excuse by banned groups
to
foment violence on such a big scale, were baseless and without grounds.”
The “killing of Christians, rape of Christian women, enforced conversion
and allegations of blasphemy” rise whenever the "Pakistan Peoples Party
(PPP) or the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) come to power. [. . .] both
of these political parties played a role” in the enforcement of “blasphemy
laws which are the root cause of Islamic militancy,” said Nazir S Bhatti,
president of the Pakistan Christian Congress (PCC).
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) and the Geneva-based
World Council of Churches have also publicly expressed their solidarity with
the Christians of Pakistan.
The “Church in India is deeply saddened and anguished by events in
Pakistan,” Archbishop Stanislaus Fernandes told AsiaNews.
“I spoke to the Archbishop of Lahore (Mgr Saldanha) and expressed our
grief and assured him of the prayerful solidarity of the Church in India,’ the
archbishop said.
The prelate, who is the CBCI chairman, called on the Pakistani government
to “provide security to minorities” because no group “should feel
alienated or discriminated” on the basis of religion.
The death of Christians on Saturday in the Gojra “reconfirms the fear that
the government is constantly failing to protect its citizens,” said Samuel
Kobia, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), in a
letter he wrote to President Asif Ali Zardari.
Such episodes of mass killing are the consequence of the blasphemy laws
which should be abolished because they violate the fundamental rights of
citizens.
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