Evangelist and his young Daughter fear for the lives after threats from exteremists!

BosNewsLife reported on the safety concerns for an evangelist and his daughter, after threats received due to their outreach programnme:

Evangelist Kamran Gill

The  young daughter of a Pakistani evangelist remained in hiding Wednesday, January  23, after Muslim extremists allegedly threatened to kill her.

“My  10-year-old daughter Shifa Gill is not going to school,” said Reverend Kamran  Gill, who survived an assassination attempt while evangelizing in Pakistan’s  Punjab province.

“She is hidden in a secure place right now,” he  added.

Gill, who lived in provincial capital Lahore before fleeing to the  United States, told BosNewsLife that the troubles began in June last year when  he attempted to preach among those suffering in some of Punjab’s notorious brick  kilns.

Overburdened by loans, some 4.5 million generations of workers  spread across 18,000 kilns around the country toil for nothing more than a  promise of freedom, according to the Asian Human Rights  Commission.

CHRIST’S HOPE

Gill, a 39-year-old  widow, said he wanted to spread the hope he found in Jesus Christ among workers,  youth and other “marginalized communities” in the region.

Yet  fearful of losing business, “Muslim extremists” oppose his Christian activities,  which also include working for several aid and advocacy groups, he  said.

“Muslim extremists threatened me and even tried to kill me when I  tried to preach in a village,” Gill explained.

Accompanied by a fellow  evangelist and his daughter, he was allegedly stopped by an angry crowd. “They  insisted to stop us from coming in this village and preach.” He said soon after,  one or more Muslim hardliners “opened fire” at him, but missed.

“I was  saved by His graceful hands,” he recalled, referring to Jesus Christ. “Soon  people from the village came out and they also ran after  me.”

CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY

Several months later, a  Swedish Christian missionary wasn’t so lucky. Birgitta Almeby, 71, was shot by  suspected Muslim extremists in Lahore and eventually died December 3 in a  Stockholm hospital.

Like Gill, she was also involved in aid and education  projects for impoverished people.

Gill said he was forced to hide his  daughter, after she initially remained at his home. “However I am very concerned  about her,” he said. “I fear she will be killed.”

Gill’s Christian  daughter isn’t the only child suffering for what militants call a “Western  ideology”. This month Malala Yousafzai, the 15-year-old Pakistani schoolgirl who  survived an assassination attempt by Taliban militants, was discharged from a  hospital in Britain.

Gill, whose wife passed away in September 2011, is  concerned about the future of his small family.

CHRISTIAN  CONCERN

The tensions have also added to concerns among local  Christians. “It is ironic that a person stands to educate the masses, instead  they start threatening him,” said Priest John Samuel from the Lahore  Diocese.

Heavily Islamic Pakistan has come under international pressure  to improve protection for minority Christians and  children.

“Unfortunately a few people in Pakistan want to keep the people  covered with illiteracy, so that they can use them for their gain, ” noted  Samuel in a statement.

“We condemn such a violation of the basic human  rights and we condemn the threats given to the evangelist for his work,” he  said


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