Today is the 16th anniversary of the sacking of Shanti Nagar. In memory of this, we publish the relevant section of a new report on Pakistan we plan to publish quite soon.
Shanti Nagar is a predominantly
Salvation Army village in the Punjab province, founded in 1916, of around
25-30,000 people. Apart from about 15
Muslim families – for whom the other villagers built a mosque - the inhabitants
are Christian. Hard work in farming
meant the village was relatively prosperous.
On 17th January police raided the house of a 60 year old
Christian, claiming intelligence of alcohol-drinking and gambling going
on. The police regularly raided the
village on such pretexts – usually about every fortnight, probably because of
jealousy over the Christian village’s prosperity. They would harass the villagers, and because
the villagers were rich enough to bribe the corrupt police, they always came
back for more. Anyway, despite, as ever,
no gambling or alcohol or anything else illegal going on there, they searched
his property, and amidst the ransacking a box with a bible fell out. The police deliberately kicked and desecrated
the bible, and took the man to the police station, even though they had found
nothing illegal, and were trying to get a large bribe from him. The residents of the village protested the
raid, the false arrest and the desecration of the bible, and also the numerous
false blasphemy accusations that had been made against villagers. They asked for charges under article 295 to
be brought against the policeman responsible.
Even after police investigations found the charge to be true, the police
refused to act until sustained pressure resulted in a promise to suspend the
officers responsible and take them to court.
Then the police pressured the village for the matter to be settled out
of court, but they refused and the senior police officer threatened to act in
way that meant they would not be able to stand on their own feet for at least
50 years. On 3rd February, a
general election day, he posted the policeman who had kicked the bible to
Shanti Nagar as security officer. This
made the villagers even more angry as it proved the promises by higher police
officers to take action was a lie, and they protested even more, so the police
hatched a plot. Two days later, a Muslim
man went to an abandoned mosque 2km from Shanti Nagar and found – so he said –
torn pages of the Quran with blasphemous words and the name and address of the
Christian from Shanti-Nagar who complained about his bible being desecrated,
along with several others. He took it
to the police station of the nearby city of Khanewal, a stronghold of an Islamicist
group with ties to Bin Laden called Harkat-ul-Insar. Within 30 minutes of registering a case (and
several Christians being arrested), mosque loud speakers from the city and all
the Muslim villages around about were calling all faithful Muslims to wage
jihad against Shanti Nagar, using word for word identical language. City church priests rushed to warn senior
officials of the impending attack, and were promised that all appropriate
measures would be made, but that too was a lie.
Late that night, mobs started attacking churches, Christian homes and
shops and medical dispensaries in Khanewal, setting them and their contents on
fire. The next morning, the mob attacked
the Catholic church just outside the city Council buildings. Bibles and other books were gathered from
churches and burned, and the Holy Communion bread thrown on the floor, statues
and the like were systematically smashed.
100’s attacked the priests' house and burned all the parish records. Pleas for police help went unheeded, they
just stood by and watched. The mob
attacked a Christian boys school. Many
fled, but about 50 of the youngest hid under their beds. The mob set fire to mattresses over them, and
they had to flee for their lives, several being carried out unconscious. They burned all the school records and
furniture. They then attacked the
Salvation army church and pharmacy, and re-attacked the Church of Pakistan
building they had attacked the night before.
Christians in local shops and homes fled for their lives, but those who
were caught were severely beaten. Again
the police did nothing. The mob only
retreated when Christians started throwing bricks and stones to defend their
homes.
At the same time, Muslims on motorbikes
went from one Muslim community to another, asking them to assemble close to
Shanti Nagar, and they started to do so.
One of the original complainants from Shanti-Nagar and his family were
stopped in their car and he was beaten badly.
The police officer who threatened the village arrived with a magistrate,
warned that a mob was coming, that the residents should hand in all their guns,
and stay inside, and that the mob would just shout slogans and then leave. This was all a lie. Those few who kept their weapons were the
only ones whose houses survived untouched.
The mob went to a nearby factory and
forced the workers to strike and join them, and then launched an all out
assault, led by some estimated 400 police in plain clothes who handed out
grenades to the militants, and Muslim clerics.
On the way to the village they blew up Salvation army hospitals and
buildings, and many homes. When they
reached the village, the mob, bearing placards saying ‘Kill the Christians,
blasphemers against the Koran and the Prophet’, cut both the phone lines and
the electricity. The mob was at least 30,000 strong, armed with homemade bombs, pistols, grenades, some kind of
incendiary powder, metal rods, knives and the like. Then they attacked in three waves. The first rushed in and grabbed all the money
and jewellery, fridges, TV’s and other valuables from each house. The second drove away and stole all the
village’s livestock. The third were
terrorists, aided by police, who put down incendiary powder in each house and
ignited them by firing shots from their guns.
Whatever was used, it burned so fiercely that iron rods in the houses
melted. All the personal legal documents
were burned, the mango orchards were destroyed.
It was quite evident that the offence was Christians prospering, and the
goal was to totally break the village’s back economically. They also forced the villagers at gun and
knifepoint to recite verses from the Quran, and those who refused to say the
Islamic creed (ie convert to Islam) were beaten badly. Meanwhile, the army was called in, and given
control, against the wishes of the police, who deliberately gave faulty
directions and obstructed the army as they could, saying the smoke was from
tyres set on fire by the demonstrators, and that everything was under control. When the army finally arrived, the mob fled,
but only after taking all water taps and destroying all means of getting water
to fight the fires. The army was able to
arrest a few looters, but the police then let them go.
The Churches were left totally
destroyed, most homes had only walls left.
The Christians had no bedding, no utensils to cook and eat with, no
spare clothes. All that had not been
taken, had been burnt. Several married
women were ‘persuaded’ to leave their husbands and marry Muslim men right there
and then, and only the arrival of the army stopped this happening to more
women. The mob also attacked and
destroyed churches and homes in several surrounding villages. In at least one village the women were forced
to work in the fields for the mob.
Estimates of the extent of the
destruction vary – depending in part which townships and villages you include
in the statistics, but it seems like over 2000 homes were destroyed, 13
churches, several schools and medical facilities, many shops, tractors and
other farming equipment, in what was systematic economic and religious
warfare. It happened at a time of local
political strife and increasing economic difficulty, and it appears that
jealousy of the relative prosperity of Christian communities was a large part
of the motivation.
Estimated losses to the Christian
communities were about (minimum) £632 million.
The local government gave a very small amount of compensation to only
some 200 families affected. Despite
repeated appeals, the Federal government, after rebuilding the houses
destroyed, after international pressure, has given precisely zero compensation
to date.
In addition, when Christians in Karachi
peacefully protested outside the state governor’s house there, they were
tear-gassed and shot by police. 100’s
were knocked unconscious by the gas, dozens were injured, and nine were shot,
and one of those died of his injuries, handcuffed to the hospital bed, as he
was also one of over 1,000 Christians arrested.
Local Muslim shopkeepers refused to sell food to Christians in the immediate aftermath of the attack. There were no deaths, thankfully, but the psychological damage has been extensive and long-lasting. Christian children who played with their Muslim neighbours, who attended each other’s family weddings and funerals, saw those same playmates and neighbours loot and burn down their houses, and now have a great fear of meeting with Muslims. In at least one case, Muslim school children at a Salvation Army school burnt down their own school. To forgive was a struggle, and for a number of years, the Christians decided to give the Muslims a taste of the medicine given out to minority Christians elsewhere, by giving Muslims their own separate utensils for eating and drinking (a practice common in Pakistan, where Christians are ‘unclean’ and anything they touch unsuitable for Muslims). Young children developed schizophrenia, or have been afraid to go outside their houses ever since. Some old people died soon after from shock. All of the villagers tremble and cry when remembering the attack, and all admit they now distrust Muslims in general, and that 15 years later, if they have to travel to Muslim villages, they are paranoid and afraid.
If you would like to donate to the work of the BPCA please use the following details:
If you would like to donate to the work of the BPCA please use the following details:
Pay by using the PayPal facility on the top right hand corner of our blog and electronic means of transfer will be initiated when you click donate written in the yellow oval.
You can also send your contributions by cheque payable to;
British Pakistani Christian Association.
Address : British Pakistani Christian Association
57 Green Lane
Ilford
Essex
IG1 1XG
Alternatively should you wish you can pay by BACS, direct debit or standing order by paying into the following account details:
Sort Code: 20-67-90
Account Number: 63468976
No comments:
Post a Comment