Why would not muslims convert to other religion, when their rulers forsake
them. The umma has abandoned Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine, so what is the
use of living in a religion whose rulers are boot lickers of yahud and nassarra.
Palestinians elected hamas but the jews and West want their representatives
to be wiped out by F16s and our airforces and armies are in the services of
yahud and nassarra.
Islahonline <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
----- Original Message -----
Kashmir:
Christians and the Valley
Tuesday, 02 January 2007
http://www.crusadewatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=589&Itemid=78
A large number of Kashmiris have converted to Christianity in recent years,
a mere 650 christians (according to the 1981 census) to something to the tune
of 13,000.
Some people allege that converts are given quality education and job
opportunities abroad. Like Tantray's children, who are studying in India's best
colleges, something that would be hard for him to afford with a salary of Rs
15,000 a month.
A large number of Kashmiris have converted to Christianity in recent years.
Khursheed Wani finds out why source: Daily Pioneer, December 31, 2006.
Can violence change the demography of a region? The continuing
17-year separatist violence in Kashmir has somewhat disturbed the religious and
ethnic make up of the Muslim-dominated Valley. On the one hand, a 0.2 million
strong Hindu Pandit population has been reduced to a mere 6,000 scattered
individuals following a mass exodus in 1990. On the other, an entirely new
phenomenon - the conversion of Muslims to Christianity - has cropped up. It is
being estimated that the Christian population in the valley has increased from
a mere 650 people (according to the 1981census) to something to the tune of
13,000.
But if the Pandits left the Valley for fear of the gun, Christian
missionaries have actually cashed in on that fear. The majority of Christians
in Kashmir have converted to that religion during the years of insurgency.
It is not a hidden fact that conversions are taking place regularly
across the valley, though the numbers are debatable in the absence of an
authentic census. A survey in the valley, particularly in Srinagar, reveals
that around a dozen Christian missions and churches headquartered in the US,
Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland have set up base. Their evangelists
are the first to reach areas where violence and natural calamities take place,
to provide help and consolation. A Catholic evangelist based in Srinagar was
among the first to reach the site of a 700-year-old Muslim shrine gutted in a
mysterious fire in December 1998 at Tral, among the first to reach
Chattisinghpora village in March 2000 where 35 Sikhs were massacred, and again
among the first to reach Uri which was ravaged by the October 8, 2005
earthquake. The token presence of such men and the help they provide makes a
great impression on those under severe trauma. The aid workers do not fail to
talk
about the Gospel.
Over the years, Christian converts were mustering up courage to express
and exhibit their new faith. And so churches like Holy Family Catholic Church
and the All Saints Church as well as several underground houses of worship set
up in areas like Shivpora were receiving sizeable numbers of worshippers on
Sundays. The bishops admit that they baptise newcomers on each occasion. It may
not sound surprising that a female convert from Kashmir University has
translated the Bible into Kashmiri. And two girls in a south Kashmir village
had insisted that their father be buried in a coffin, according to Christian
tradition.
But all this changed after November 11 this year, when militants attacked
a Christian convert in Mamoosa village in north Kashmir's Pattan belt. Bashir
Ahmad Tantray, a 50-year-old electrical engineer, was shot dead from a point
blank range. Tantray, villagers say, had left his village a decade ago after
joining a philanthropist organisation. He had actually converted to
Christianity. Three years ago, he confirmed having changed his faith to a
reporter in Srinagar and said he was committed to the spread of Christianity.
Among other things, he was supervising a hostel - called House of Peace - in a
posh Srinagar locality where several dozen children belonging to poor families
from Anantnag, Pulwama and Baramulla districts were allegedly being brought up
as Christians.
Tantray's killing shocked Kashmir's Christian community, forcing them to
maintain a low profile. The government has also instructed Kashmiri Christians
to lie low. Though no militant outfit claimed responsibility for Tantray's
killing, a common refrain is that separatist Islamist militants have carried
out the act. So frightened were the villagers after Tantray's death that they
buried him in a Muslim graveyard and offered nimaz-e-jinah as per Muslim
traditions.
But that murder was not the first sign of resentment against Kashmiri
converts. Last year, a cameraman with a local television network was killed in
the Tral pocket of south Kashmir for alleged conversion. Then, militants
targeted two female teachers working in a south Kashmir missionary school,
killing one of them and injuring the other. Four months ago, the Good Shepherd
School in Pulwama was temporarily closed down by the local administration
following an attack by the public. The people claimed that the school
authorities were forcing children to convert to Christianity. Employees of the
school also say they have received threats. In Uri, a Christian NGO was asked
to wind up by the local administration following a public demonstration when
its workers distributed religious literature among quake hit villagers along
with the relief material.
It is believed Kashmiri Christians are directly linked with groups in New
Delhi and receive overseas funding through this channel.
Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) officials in New Delhi strongly
resented Tantray's killing and other attacks on Christians. Rev Richard Howell,
EFI secretary-general, had reportedly blamed militants for the attacks.
EFI released an extensive report on the killing. "We mourn the death of
Tantray and request prayers for the family in their time of grief," the report
said. Tehmina Arora, secretary of EFI's legal department, was quoted as saying
that Christian groups are "concerned about the growing number of incidents
against Christians in the state." Rev Howell had said his organisation would
discuss the matter with the state administration.
The Muslim clergy in Kashmir is not much worried by reports of
conversions. Some of them say the figures are being deliberately exaggerated.
But others see a definite threat. About three years ago, Mirwaiz Omar Farooq,
Kashmir's head preacher and leader of a faction of the separatist Hurriyat
Conference, organised a forum of ulemas from different Islamic schools of
thought to chalk out a strategy to counter evangelist threats. The forum,
however, had only three meetings. "The ulemas were not concerned about the
gravity of the problem. They instead attempted to concentrate on the conflicts
within the different Muslim schools of thought," lamented Showkat Shah, chief
of a Muslim religious organisation.
+++
Stories they don't want told
http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/apr/28varsha.htm
.... Since the end of March, Christian evangelism has been making
ever-widening ripples in the American press. To the best of my knowledge, it
began with a report in the Mercury News on faith-based groups poised to give
humanitarian aid in Iraq once the war subsided: "They see it as a golden
opportunity to convert this predominantly Muslim country to Christianity, and
along with supplies, they carry the New Testament and the message of Jesus
Christ." ...... Read full story
+++++
Conversions, a trade in Kashmir?
http://www.christianaggression.com/item_display.php?type=ARTICLES&id=1164684811
Srinagar: The grieving family of Bashir Ahmed Tantray, a Christian convert
who was shot in this sleepy Pattan village, is scared after his death.
He had been accused of converting poor Muslims by offering them money and his
family denies these allegations and says he was killed for embracing
Christianity.
"If Bashir had converted, that was his will. They should have brought him back
to Islam by convincing him, not killing him," says Tantray's brother, Nazir
Ahmad
There are close to 2000 families who have converted to Christianity in Kashmir.
Christian Evangelists say Kashmiris are joining their faith by choice, and no
money or any other form of incentive is offered in return.
"We don't go to ask them to get converted. They come to us and ask us to follow
our way and we welcome them. Christian church is not a rich church and we don't
have resources. It is a complete misunderstanding. Most people love peace of
mind and if they find peace of mind in Christianity, that is what they are
looking for," says pastor of church of North India, Yonathan Paljor.
However, some people allege that converts are given quality education and job
opportunities abroad. Like Tantray's children, who are studying in India's best
colleges, something that would be hard for him to afford with a salary of Rs
15,000 a month.
Meanwhile, Muslim scholars are not too pleased with the issue.
"If conversions are happening by paying money. It is very wrong. Even
Christianity does not allow it," says Chairman, Jamaitul Ahlihadees, Showkat
Ahmad.
++++
Kashmir: The Land Of Widows And Orphans
By Pradeep Mohinder
Countercurrents.org - 02 March, 2007
http://www.countercurrents.org/kashmir-mohinder020307.htm
Rape of women, disappearance, illegal detain,threatening at gun point,
molestation, loot and terrorising raids by security forces and by unknown
gunmen have been a day to day phenomena in Kashmir valley and in border
districts of Jammu. Seventeen years of turmoil has not only ruined the Jammu
Kashmir economically but, has turned the valley in to the land of widows and
orphans. It is matter of fact that that in state there are more than
twenty-five thousand orphans (25,000) and approximately six thousand 6000
widows in state but Central and State government are un aware of this amazing
and horrifying fact and they only have data of arms and ammunition recovered or
militants gun down by security forces during search operations.
The most affected and neglected areas are border districts, like Kupwara,
Anantnag, Pulwama and Baramulla in the valley and Rajouri, Poonch and Udhampur
in Jammu region.
These women has not lost only their husbands but also source of livelihood
with them.These poverty struck women have nothing to feed their children and
number of other insecuries hunt them in the absence of their husband.
The people of the state are not only harassed and raped by unknown gunmen but
even India army is doing the same.
In 1991 Indian army raped 30 women in Kunan- Poshpura in Kupwara aged between
18 to 85 years, but till the date these women has got no compensation nor
justice from the government. Even young girls who were yet to be married are
still awaiting that some day some one will come to marry them and they are
living in cow sheds and waiting for justice.
If one will visit the Deevar, Sogam, Dardpora and other villages of border
district Kupwara will find hundred of widows and thousand of orphans at the
mercy of god. One of the widows from village Dardpora named Shakeela said "I
have three children. My husband was taken for interrogation in 1994 and after
few days his body was found in the jungle. He was killed with bullets pumped
into his body. After his death I have no other option other than to beg or to
go for illicit activities.
It is matter of concern that most of the married women face the problem of
miscarriages, which is one of the fastest growing problem in the rural and
border areas of state yet to be noticed by the health department of state.
The young widows and teenaged orphan girls are facing more problems due to
their youth as they are always at danger of molestation and getting raped.
One of the widow Reehana aged 22 from Deever said "being young I am always
being harassed and molested both by security forces and renegade and that has
become the day to day routine. Even though I am educated still I cannot go out
to work because of all this".
Even the NGOs, which are trying to help them, are not able tro perform well
because of government hurdles. Ghulam Nabi a tailor at J&K Yateem Trust Craft
Centre, in the village Deevar said, "Even though these girls get free tranning
in tailoring , they are not able to earn their livelihood as the village has
limited resources and government has done nothing to facilitate their skill .
Safe means of livelihood for these widows and orphans is very important
otherwise, when the young boys and girls grow up in such deprived condition
either they will definitely follow the gun culture or fall victims to the
pimps.
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Islahonline
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