Nehru’s Legacy: Time to pay tribute Manto Uncle, Bolti bandh?

Jan 2004: Christian priest shot dead

January 12, 2004
Pakistan: Protestant pastor shot dead

Non-Muslim populations are always at risk in Islamic countries such as Pakistan, where dhimmitude is still very much alive in the cultural patterns (and, increasingly, laws) of the people. If the dhimmis are perceived to be stepping out of line, their very lives can be forfeit.

``A Protestant pastor in Pakistan’s Punjab province was murdered in the early hours of January 5, just minutes after he left his home to catch a train to Lahore.`` This from Compass Direct.

``Pastor Mukhtar Masih, 50, was shot once in the chest at close range with a 32 caliber pistol sometime after 3 a.m. in Khanewal, 180 miles southwest of Lahore.

``Just 45 minutes after Masih left his home, two policemen arrived at the door to inform his family that the pastor’s body had been found on the road about 100 yards from the train station. Officials said his body was lying face down, his hat just a few feet away, and there were no signs of a struggle.

``Because of dirt and grass stains found on the back of the pastor’s suit jacket, it appeared that his body had been dragged some distance from the actual murder site. The odd angle of the bullet wound also indicated that Masih, who was a tall man, could have been either kneeling or sitting when he was shot.

``Local police authorities in Khanewal announced that three police committees had been formed to investigate the murder and apprehend the unknown killer(s).

``According to a Daily Times newspaper report on January 6, local police superintendent Jamil Ahmed discounted robbery as a likely murder motive. `It was not a case of robbery, because cash and necessary documents were found untouched in his pockets,` Ahmed said. Some 3,500 rupees ($58) were recovered from the slain pastor’s body.

(Note: This was not a robbery)

``Police officials indicated yesterday that they suspected it was a grudge killing. `It is so cold in Pakistan in January at 3 a.m. that no sane person would be out unless they had a clear purpose, as did Pastor Mukhtar,` one source who had spoken with the police told Compass today from Lahore. `So (the police) speculate that someone must have learned his intention to catch the train and laid in wait for him.`

``For the past 14 years, Masih had pastored in Khan Pur, a district within the city of Khanewal. At least half the population of the colony, consisting of some 2,000 homes, are Christian.

``As pastor of the local Church of God, Masih had regularly conducted 10 minutes of prayer and Bible reading over the church loudspeaker at 6 a.m. each morning. Such a practice is common across Pakistan in areas with large Christian populations, just as mosque loudspeakers are used to call Muslim communities to pray.

``According to the findings of an investigative team from the Lahore-based Center for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), some local Muslims in Khan Pur had launched an ongoing dispute with Masih over his use of the loudspeaker during the past few years.

``Parishioners from Masih’s congregation of 50-100 members confirmed that Muslims had threatened their pastor `on many occasions,` and several times the speakers were torn down. On at least one occasion, police took away the church loudspeaker and arrested Masih, finally releasing him unharmed after he had spent four days in jail.

``Nonetheless, local Christians could not identify any recent provocation that might have sparked Monday’s murder of the pastor. `It appears that someone knew his schedule and was waiting for him,` the CLAAS fact-finding team observed after their visit to Khanewal yesterday. `After examining all of the facts, we assume that this is a case of terrorism,` they concluded. . . .

``The late pastor is survived by his wife Parveen and seven children, including two married daughters.

``In a similar homicide six months ago, a Roman Catholic priest was murdered in his home near Okara. The accused Muslim perpetrators have yet to be apprehended, although police have filed formal charges against four Christian men, claiming they killed the priest during an attempted armed robbery with two Muslim accomplices.``

http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/000612.php

Nehru’s Legacy: Time to pay tribute PAKISTAN: Bishop John Joseph`s Protest Against Victimisation of Minorities

Statement of the National Commission for Justice and Peace in Pakistan

Rev. Dr. John Joseph, 66, Catholic bishop of Faisalabad and a high profile human rights activist, shot himself dead in the dark corridors of a sessions court in Sahiwal (700 kilometres from the capital, Islamabad) at about 9:30 p.m. on 6 May 1998 in protest against the death sentence recently given to Ayub Masih on 27 April for blaspheming Islam. This is the same spot where Ayub Masih, a Christian of his diocese, was shot at on 6 November 1997.

Bishop John Joseph travelled to the city of Sahiwal in the afternoon of 6 May from his residence in Faisalabad. He went to address a prayer meeting for the Christian parishioners there specially organised for the victims of blasphemy cases. Since the early 1990s when Section 295-C of the Pakistani Penal Code was amended, making the death sentence mandatory for the offence of blaspheming Islam, dozens of non-Muslims have fallen victims to the often-abused blasphemy laws. And the bishop was deeply shocked by Ayub’s verdict.

At dinner time on 6 May, Bishop John Joseph had little appetite as according to the parish priest, Fr. Yaqoob Farooq, O.P.. After others had had their meals, the bishop asked Fr. Yaqoob to accompany him to the spot of the court-house where Ayub Masih was shot at exactly six months ago. On reaching close to the vicinity of the sessions court, the bishop asked Fr. Yaqoob to stay back and went to the spot himself. Moments after, Fr. Yaqoob heard a gun shot. He then rushed to the spot and found the bishop had shot himself in the neck. According to Fr. Yaqoob, Bishop John Joseph was instantly dead.

On hearing the news of the bishop’s death, the Christian populace of the city gathered at the spot in the court-house. As of 12:35 a.m. of 7 May, the Christians there refused to remove the dead body until the prime minister would come personally to express his sorrow. Bishop John Joseph, a human rights activist well-known locally and internationally, was the founding chairperson of the National Commission for Justice and Peace under the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan, and he remained in office since its establishment in 1984.

Bishop John Joseph had led two nationwide protests of the Christian community and even went on hunger strike for the cause. The first protest was in 1992 against the government’s proposal to include a column for one’s religious faith in the national identity cards. Christians and other minorities in the community thought that the new identity card system would lead to further victimisation of religious minorities in Pakistan. The second nationwide protest was in 1994 against the murder of Manzoor Masih, a Christian tried on blasphemy, outside the court right after the court hearing on 5 April 1994.

On 20 March 1998, Bishop John Joseph led an ecumenical rally for Christian solidarity in Vienna in which personnel from both the Catholic and Protestant Church hierarchies took part in the programme. He gave a homily on the persecution of religious minorities in Pakistan, especially the impact of the notorious blasphemy laws. The bishop told the rally that ``we object to these (the blasphemy) laws because they are the main hindrance to Christian-Muslim relations. We shall fight till the dawn comes, (and) the forms (of this fight) may be diverse.``

It is sad, and extremely sad, that the bishop’s decision has taken away the best of the best from the human rights movement in Pakistan. Nonetheless, his message comes through very clearly. The death of Bishop John Joseph has thoroughly explained the despair towards the many injustices and sufferings induced on the people of Pakistan, as well as the sacrifice this human rights activist was ready to make for justice’s sake.

http://www.hrsolidarity.net/mainfile.php/1998vol08no06/1432/

Nehru’s Legacy: Time to pay tribute This happened 1 month before the Karachi incident. 6 people shot dead in a christian school.

Six people were killed and three others injured Monday when gunmen stormed the gates of a Christian boarding school near the Pakistani mountain resort of Murree, police said.

The attack at the Murree Christian School, located 35 miles north of Islamabad, was the third against Pakistan`s Christian minority since President Pervez Musharraf began cooperating with the U.S.-led war on terror last fall.

A statement by the school, which was founded in 1956 to train the children of missionaries, said there had been ``several deaths and injuries`` but that none of the 150 students, including 30 Americans, or the mostly British staff was hurt.

All the dead were Pakistanis, including two security guards, a receptionist, a cook, a carpenter and a bystander, police said.

A Filipino woman, two of whose children attend the school, was shot in the hand. The hospital said two other people were wounded.

Local police official Mohammed Maqbool said guards exchanged fire with four or five attackers for about 20 minutes before the attackers fled.

The majority of Pakistan`s 140 million people are Muslim. Christians, Hindus and people of other religions make up about 3% of the population.

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200208/06/eng20020806_100976.shtml

Nehru’s Legacy: Time to pay tribute One year later, this time in Karachi

KARACHI, Pakistan — Shouting ``stop religious terrorism,`` hundreds of Christians marched in Karachi Wednesday after two gunmen invaded the office of a Christian charity, tied up workers and shot seven of them to death, each with a bullet to the head.

The bloodbath in the southern port city shattered hopes that a sweeping crackdown on Islamic militants had quelled the violent groups targeting foreigners and Pakistan`s Christian minority.

An eighth person was critically wounded in the attack on the third-floor office of the Institute for Peace and Justice, a Pakistani Christian charity. The victims, all Pakistani Christians, were bound to chairs with their hands behind their backs before being shot, Karachi Police Chief Kamal Shah said.

There was no claim of responsibility and Shah said it was not known who was behind the attack. Police were questioning an office assistant who was tied up and beaten but not shot.

It was the latest in a string of attacks on Christian organizations that have killed at least 36 people and wounded 100 since President Pervez Musharraf`s decision to join the war on terrorism in Afghanistan and crack down on extremists at home.

It came a day after gunmen in the western province of Gujarat in neighboring India killed 32 people at a Hindu temple, raising new tensions between the hostile neighbors.


In Karachi, Pakistani authorities were trying to figure out how the gunmen got into the office, which had an electronic door that could only be opened from the inside, he said. The office assistant told police there were two gunmen, Shah said.

The building in a central business district of Karachi was cordoned off, and a female relative of one of the victims was led away sobbing by police. The mother of another victim, 36-year-old Benjamin Talib, collapsed and was taken to the hospital.

The Institute for Peace and Justice has operated in Karachi for 30 years, working with poor municipal and textile laborers to improve working conditions and organize programs with human rights groups.

Pakistan`s 3.8 million Christians make up about 2.5 percent of the country`s overwhelmingly Muslim population.

Information Minister Nisar Memon denounced the attackers as ``enemies of Pakistan.``

He said the violence would not shake the nation`s resolve. ``Pakistan`s cooperation with the world community in the war against terrorism will continue,`` he said.

Many Pakistani Christians complained the government was failing to protect them and some took their outrage out on city officials.

``Shame! Shame! Shame!`` a crowd of people shouted at Karachi Mayor Naimatullah Khan when he arrived at the hospital where the bodies were taken.

Later, 400 demonstrators, most of them Christian, marched on the Governor`s House, shouting ``stop religious terrorism`` and demanding protection.

``People in our community now feel more insecure ... our people are being killed,`` said Bishop Victor Mall, head of the Diocese Church of Pakistan in Multan, an area in Punjab province that has spawned a number of militant Muslim groups.

Shehbaz Bhatti, a Christian who heads the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, blamed Islamic militants sympathetic to Usama bin Laden`s Al Qaeda network and the hard-line Taliban regime ousted from neighboring Afghanistan.

He said Christians felt increasingly insecure in Pakistan. ``Our anger is now reaching the boiling point,`` he said.

Mayor Khan appealed to all Muslims in Pakistan to work with Christians to promote peace.

``Those trying to disturb the peace in Karachi are bent upon exploiting religious sentiments,`` he said.

In October last year six masked gunmen opened fire on congregants at a Protestant church service in the Punjab city of Behawalpur, killing 15 Christians and a Muslim guard.

On March 17, a grenade attack on a Protestant church in Islamabad`s heavily guarded diplomatic quarter killed five people, including an American woman, her 17-year-old daughter and the lone assailant.

On Aug. 9, attackers hurled grenades at worshippers as they were leaving a church on the grounds of a Presbyterian hospital in Taxila, 25 miles west of the capital, Islamabad. Four nurses were killed and 25 people were wounded.

Four days earlier, assailants raided a Christian school 40 miles east of Islamabad, killing six Pakistanis.

But optimism had been growing that authorities were getting the upper hand.

This month, police in Karachi arrested 23 members of Harakat ul-Mujahedeen Al-Almi, a militant group suspected in the June bombing outside the U.S. Consulate as well as the suicide car bomb in May that killed 11 French engineers and abortive plots against a McDonald`s and a KFC restaurant.

Police found maps of two churches and a Christian school in Karachi, along with weapons and explosives. That discovery prompted authorities to remove signs from outside some churches set up in private homes and to fortify other Christian sites with sandbag bunkers.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,64006,00.html

Nehru’s Legacy: Time to pay tribute Let me know if you want more instances.

Christians massacred in Bawalpur

BAHAWALPUR, Pakistan (CNN) -- Condemning Sunday`s massacre of 16 Christian worshippers, Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf blamed ``trained terrorists`` for the slaying and vowed justice would be served.

At least five others were critically injured in the attack when a group of bearded men on motorcycles opened fire on a morning church service in Bahawalpur in eastern Pakistan, officials said.

A police officer was among those killed.

``The method used and the inhumane tactics employed clearly indicate involvement of trained terrorists of organizations bent upon creating discord and disharmony in Pakistan, where Christians and Muslims have always lived in peace with mutual respect for each other,`` Musharraf said.

``I shall not comment any further on the identity of the terrorists until the investigation is concluded … I would however like to assure everyone that we should track down the culprits and bring them to justice.``

It is unclear whether the attack was related to anti-U.S. and anti-government sentiment over the airstrikes on Afghanistan and there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

However, intelligence officials told the Associated Press that members of a banned Islamic group were under suspicion.

Carnage

The church massacre was the worst ever attack on Pakistan`s Christian minority.

The Reverend Jim Nuttle, a Catholic priest at the church where the shooting happened, said about 50 people were in the church when the attack began at the end of the first service at 0900 local time.

The men rode up on motorcycles and shot a police officer who was a church security guard, Nuttle said.

The men then stormed the church and began ``shooting indiscriminately with automatic weapons,`` he said.

``They were in the church for a full five minutes,`` Nuttle said.

``They left as quickly as they came; they left a great deal of carnage in the church -- people dead, dying,``

The priest for the Church of Pakistan, which was holding services at the time of the incident, was not in the church when the shooting began.

Officials say an investigation is already underway and Musharraf has sent two federal ministers to Bahawalpur -- about 230 miles (370 kilometers) southwest of Lahore -- to express condolences to the families.

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/south/10/28/pak.christian.shooting/index.html

Nehru’s Legacy: Time to pay tribute Re: # 664

Manto Uncle,

Dont kid yourself. I know of one story where a prominent Christian priest shot himself as protest against policies of Paki government.

Nehru’s Legacy: Time to pay tribute Manto uncle, r u secular or what?

Nehru’s Legacy: Time to pay tribute Poor Constitutionlist Jinnah! He put his behaviour for British and what did they do? They sided with lawbreaking congressis and gave them the best deal.

Men of Letters SPICMACAY

Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Music And Culture Among Youth.

Escalation of Hostilities in Middle East As members of the world humanity, we ask the United States to play its leadership role and the European Union to help putting a ceasefire in place. It is not the question of who is right or who is wrong. The urgency is to prevent general conflagration.

Why didnt chowk staff grace FP during North Korean missile crisis? What happened to their humanity then?

And why are a billion faithful begging for ceasefire instead of fighting the war they prayed for. They had their clash of civilization in New York, London, Madrid and Bombay. So whats wrong in having the War in Beirut suburbs for a change.

Mumbai Rocked by Seven Bomb Blasts Hindu devotees performing puja


Mass cremation


Muslim organisations protest against the blasts


Children light up candles at Gateway of India


Manhunt

The Purdah Police It makes perfect sense to me. And given the incestuous nature of your relations and the paedophilia so popularised by your prophet, it`s a must in family gatherings.

Pakistan\'s \'Incomplete\' Democratic Experiment They actually say ``Oh My!`` but it may not be audible outside bedroom windows :))

Pakistan\'s \'Incomplete\' Democratic Experiment Read this. It says Pakis are expendable. Also read that the apology is not from Bush, Rice or Dick Cheney but just a senator.

No guarantee US won’t do it again

WASHINGTON, Jan 15: A senior US senator on Sunday lamented the loss of innocent lives during a US bombing raid in Pakistan, but said such casualties are unavoidable as Washington robustly pursues its “war on terror.” “It’s terrible when innocent people are killed. We regret that. But we have to do what we think is necessary to take out Al Qaeda, particularly the top operatives,” US Senator John McCain told CBS television’s “Face the Nation” program.

“We regret it. We understand the anger that people feel, but the United States’ priorities are to get rid of Al Qaeda, and this was an effort to do so,” the Republican lawmaker said.

“We apologize, but I can’t tell you that we wouldn’t do the same thing again,” McCain said.

He made his remarks after thousands of protesters took to Pakistan’s streets to condemn the US air strike that killed 18 villagers near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

“This war on terror has no boundaries,” McCain, a Vietnam War veteran, continued. “We have to go where these people are, and we have to take them out. And the fact that maybe we didn’t take them out years ago when we should have is a cautionary tale,” he told CBS.

Pakistan\'s \'Incomplete\' Democratic Experiment Ask what Bill Gates, Craig Barret, Scot Mcnealy, Jack Welch, TI CEO think about `cheap` indian labour.

And behram1, with a billion+ slaves anybody can build a China. It`s not that big a deal if you think about it.

Pervez Musharraf Ko Peace Do #210,

Pakis hate him because he`s so naive in his dealings with India. Take for instance `3 cities` plan. No one in Pak believes it`ll work and they think it`s defacto acceptance of Paki role in terrorism.

I will anyday bank on democrats like BB, MQM, NS whoever.

Regs