Update on 'Blasphemy' sermon case

Recently we reported on a case where an Islamic cleric is accusing a pastor of 'blasphemy' for quoting the Quran in a sermon.  An updated report says that tensions in the village are still high, and the pastor, Rev Irfan Gill, is receiving death threats.  The Muslim cleric has tried to attack him with help from a group of local Muslims.  The article also gives a little more detail about what was actually said in the sermon.

Apparently the pastor quoted verses from the Quran to explain 'errors and misunderstandings that underline today's interreligious violence'.  While tone and actual method is crucial, it would appear that

a) the pastor was trying to promote peace by examining causes of violence, and more pertinently
b) he was citing verses that traditional Muslims use to justify discrimination and attacks on Christians, and that it was the exposing of this truth that so angered the Muslim cleric.

Jesus said 'Blessed are the peacemakers....'  It seems the local Christian community has been trying to make peace under very trying circumstances, including the obligatory 'apology', but this does not appear to be working........

Pakistan's Web of Barbarity

Trailer for 'Sinner Among Saints' film

Any society is a complex web of interacting elements.  In Pakistan, the violence and barbarity comes from several elements.  The above trailer gives a brief taste, and points to a major problem - the 1962 constitution that made Pakistan an Islamic, rather than a secular state and the ensuing power of the Islamic religious political parties and movements (including, on a rather topical note, their tendency to intimidate judges and lawmakers).  

This article will briefly link several disparate stories to demonstrate this wicked web of barbarity.  First is a report from Pakistan's intelligence community about the strength of religious extremist groups.  Their survey showed that Islamic militant groups are far stronger in society than they were in the 80's and 90's when terrorist attacks were common.  They pose a grave threat to the state and society.  

This growing influence is almost certainly a major factor in the huge increase of attacks on religious minorities, and the fact that the authorities so often seem unwilling or unable to stand up for them.  For instance, see this article about the grave concerns of Hindu's in the Sindh province over the routine kidnap, rape and forced marriage and conversion of their girls and women, along with young men kidnapped for ransom (an example of Islamic groups forcing jizya, perhaps?).  Typically, the police refuse to investigate.  It has gotten so bad that representatives are saying that if the violence does not stop, Hindus will be forced to flee from Pakistan.

Another element in parts of the country is the Jirga system of village or tribal governance.  In a recent story a wedding dance in a village near the Afghan border in the North ended up with one such council condemning 6 of the guests to death.  A video of the wedding celebrations was made which was alleged to show violations of the tribes strict ban on gender mixing.  (Sources say that in fact there were separate clips of men and women at the celebration with none showing them mixing).  The 6 individuals were sentenced to death by their local village council.  According to custom, the men had to be executed first, and then the women.  However, the men managed to escape, but the women were left tied up to starve while the tribe tried to hunt down the men.  Apparently a local police chief has managed to get written undertakings that none of the 'criminals' will be harmed, for what that is worth.  Apparently the women are now (relatively) safe in their parents' homes.  Relatives say the group has been targeted due to jealousy, as the family are quite rich and well off, and that the video was engineered.  NGO's have noted how the Jirga system is used to systematically suppress women in Pakistan.  Sources here  and here

UN legal expert on Pakistan blasphemy cases

Gabriela Knaul - UN special rapporteur

A UN legal and human rights expert has highlighted a major factor in the endemic injustice in Pakistan over blasphemy cases.  Gabriela Knaul, from Brazil pointed out that many judges are pressured by threats and intimidation to declare people guilty even when there was no evidence to support such a verdict.  In addition, such threats often prevent defence lawyers from properly defending those accused of blasphemy (and this doesn't even take into account threats against witnesses).  

Gabriela Knaul made her comments after her 11 day trip to examine Pakistan's justice system in action.  She raised a number of other points, including the poor conditions (no lighting, electricity, water, sanitation) in many lower courts, the extremely low level of female judges, and the ambiguity inherent in a country having two separate supreme courts.  

She was especially critical of the way the blasphemy law is used to deprive women of their rights, and gender bias right from the police initial involvement up seriously discriminates against women and renders them less likely to receive justice.  She was also critical of parallel court systems, including the Federal Shariat Court (FST).  

Her visit was the first of it's kind for 13 years.  

For more, see here, here and for the Pakistan Christian Posts take - see here

From darkness to light.... for one, for many?

Julie Aftab - survivor, example of God's ability to 'work out all things for good'

Julie Aftab was a fun loving child who had to leave school at age 12 to work 13 hour days to support her family.  She described it as the worst day of her life, as she dreamed of going to college.  At work, she always wore her cross.  Age 16, this offended someone (some sources also say that her refusal to be in a relationship was also a factor in what happened), and she was at work when one man burst in and threw acid at her from a distance, then another pulled her by the hair from behind and poured acid on her face and down her throat.  She lost teeth, her cheek and an eye in the attack.  She was rushed to hospital, but many refused to treat her for fear of retaliation by the perpetrators.  Those that were willing to treat her started skin grafts, some of them without anaesthetic.  

Typically, her attackers were never brought to justice and still walk free.  Her attacker falsely claimed that Julie had blasphemed against Islam to justify his actions and to put pressure on her - her life was still in danger  She barely escaped alive after a man tried to shoot her.  She moved her head just enough when her mum called out a warning, but she was hit with bullets in the head and the stomach

A sponsor arranged for her to go to the US, where she had to undergo 27 operations.  She spoke no English, but started to go to school, and later became the first person in her family to go to college.  She works in a store to support her family still.  She has also raised funds to build a safe house in Pakistan.  'Before I wanted to save peoples bodies' (as a doctor) she says, 'but now I want to save souls'.  

Her life is a picture of Jesus teaching on forgiveness, and a radiant beauty that is beyond skin deep, and she recently got engaged as well as being about to graduate, not from college, but from university!

For more sources, see here, here and here

Snooker quarrels and church sermons - result in blasphemy charges

Two more stories of blasphemy accusations or threats of the same - both with many typical features.

The first is in the town of Farooqabad, about 20 miles north-west of Lahore.  Local police arrested Sajid Inayat, 20, a Christian after allegations that he burned pages of the Quran in a box.  The charges came two days after a dispute with two Muslim boys over a snooker game, and the charge of willful desecration of the Quran carries a penalty of life-imprisonment.  Those falsely accusing him were the Muslim boys in the original incident.  As he went to work, they repeatedly accused him of setting fire to a box on a nearby pole, but he asked why he would do such a thing and walked on, saying they could do what they liked.  When he left, the boys raised a mob of Muslims and started a ruckus.  Several Christian families fled in fear of their lives, although local police and Muslim officials say none of the 20-25 Christian families in the area will be harmed.

BPCA publicly urges the police to deal quickly and dismiss this blatantly false case, as was the case in a recent incident near Gojra (see the last of the three stories on this page)

Source

And in another case showing classically the situation in Pakistan for churches, local Christians were forced to apologize after a visiting preacher quoted from the Quran.  The pastor was invited by a local teacher to speak at a mass in a village called Data Zedka, which is near Sialkot, a town about 20 miles northeast of Gujranwala.
However a local Islamic cleric came and disrupted the meeting, abusing and threatening to kill the pastor after he quoted verses from the Quran.  He tried to physically attack the preacher himself, but the church members prevented him.  He called the police to the church, and in the meantime the pastor fled for his life.  The school teacher has apologized  to the Islamic cleric, who is still demanding that the pastor return and publicly apologize over the loud speaker for quoting the Quran, or else there will be 'consequences'.  This despite the Christian community sending women to the clerics wife and mother to apologize to try and avoid agitation by Muslims.  The cleric has said his blood boiled when the pastor used Quranic verses to support a Christian point of view - and would have killed him on the spot if he had managed to get a weapon.  The police have agreed to post a blasphemy case from the Cleric if the pastor doesn't come and apologize by the next day. It is unclear what has happened since then.  The police appear to be trying to calm things down, albeit by the normal method of pressuring Christians to apologize and defer to the Muslims, but the cleric accused the police of being 'followers of the American agenda of protecting the Christians'.

Source

Injured hearts and bodies

Narang Mandi, property conflicts in village near this town

We have yet another story of influential Muslims stealing from the Christian community.  The Christians in the Bhondary Wala village near Narang Mandi (about 20 miles north-northeast of Lahore, are protesting the stealing of cemetery land by a retired army Colonel.  The Colonel, Farukh Alam, whose nephew is a Pakistan Muslim League politician, claimed that the cemetery land, which the Christians have owned since before even the founding of Pakistan, was in actual fact his.  He says it was 'taken back' in 1983, and he has recently discovered that it is his - despite failing to provide any proof whatsoever of his claims.  He has already built a boundary wall that has reduced the size of the land by over two thirds, and turning what he has stolen to agricultural use, and told the Christian community that they will need to make other provisions for burial.  He has threatened and abused Christians who tried to protect and save their graveyard.  The police did nothing about the complaint until a senior regional politician got involved.  The colonel claims that the Christians are accusing him after incitement by an Ahmahdi with a personal grudge, and that it is all a conspiracy against him.  

Source 1 and source 2

We also will summarise the story of a convert from Islam and the persecutions and deprivations he endured.  Karachi resident Muhammad Kamram, 34, was beaten mercilessly by thugs two years ago after telling his wife he had converted to Christianity.  He was troubled by the practices of his faith, the so-called 'moderate' Balrevi faction whose religious practice focuses on shrines to dead saints, and attracted by the satisfaction and love of Christian work colleagues.  He started going to church, but his family beat him when they found out.  He started going secretly, and managed to evade his family's watch.  He was baptised in 2009, and kept the fact secret from his ultra-conservative family, although he openly questioned Islam.  In 2010, his family pressured him very strongly to marry a Muslim woman in the hope of stopping his questions about their ancestral faith and he gave in to their pressure.  When he told her of his faith, she said she would stand by him, but the next day she told both families.  Both families started to threaten him with death every day.  Then he was badly beaten by thugs - he doesn't know which family sent them.  After 2 years, he is still in pain, with severe injuries to his pelvis and groin.  He fled the country, and his wife got a divorce.  He had to return to Pakistan a month later after his visa expired, and returned to Karachi some time later after he hoped things had calmed down.  In 2011 he married a Christian woman.  One day a cousin saw him and followed him home, and then told his family where he was and that he had a Christian wife.  His father came and demanded he leave his wife and return home, and raised a hue and cursed him when he refused.  The family fled the house and have had to move house repeatedly, whilst still receiving daily phone calls from the family threatening to kill his wife and unborn child if he did not return to Islam.  His family found out where his wife works and continue to harass them.  Because he cannot work, his wife must continue at her job, as she can't find better work.  He cannot get the funding for the hospital operations he needs.  A local politician has tried to raise funding, but nobody will take the risk because he is someone called Muhammed but whose religion is Christian.  In addition, Kamram is directly discriminated against the state because the functionality for changing religion on the new computerized ID cards is disabled for those whose religion is down as Muslim.  

Source

On the issue of trauma due to persecution of Christians, BPCA came across this article containing observations and recommendations for pastoral support for Christians in Pakistan.  It also covers the inferiority complex, identity issues, sense of powerlessness, anxiety and fear the Christian community in Pakistan develops as a result.  It recommends a spiritual care plan for those going to Pakistan and talking to persecuted Christians

Speaking of the plight of minorities in Pakistan, yet another report has come out about the atrocious content of Pakistani educational textbooks.  The report is by the Catholic group National Commission for Justice and Peace.  They noticed that 1000's of minority students are forced to study Islam for fear of discrimination.  For instance, the populous state of Punjab, with relatively high percentages of minority population, has made the study of the Koran mandatory for all by a unanimous vote.  And in subjects like social studies, at least 20% of the material is Islamic in nature. Muslim students are given a bonus of 20 points for material reserved for those wanting to go deeper into Islam.  This despite the fact that the constitution Article 22 states that no person in education will be required to take religious instruction or take part in a religious ceremony if they concern a religion that is not their own.  

Source

Christian family murdered

Okara Christian cemetery, a scene of earlier trouble

A husband and wife, sister in law and two children were murdered in Okara, Punjab province, about 70 km south west of Lahore.  The murders happened on the night of the 22nd May.  Police are investigating, but no arrests so far.  The manner of the families death - they had their throats slit - strongly suggests that this was martyrdom at the hands of Muslim extremists.  Source

Okara has been the scene of several incidents in the past, notably an attempt in June 2009 by Muslim authorities to demolish the Christian cemetery and turn it into recreational park land.  Source - about a third of the way down