Excerpt from The Targeting of “ Minority Others” in Pakistan

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I have been contacted on several occasions by Pakistani Christian asylum seekers desperate for help with preparing their appeal. I have also been contacted by the chaplain at Yarl’s Wood detention centre out concern over the lack of support they are receiving. Twin sisters at Yarl’s Wood, who cannot be named, told me that one of them had been kidnapped after refusing to convert to Islam. In another case, one woman’s entire family in Pakistan is suffering because her nephew has refused to convert to Islam. Instead of her nephew, she has had to pay the price of his refusal, having been tortured and sexually assaulted by the Pakistani police during investigations. She is still wanted by the Pakistani police and it is not clear what the outcome of this situation will be.



Thank you for reading this and please know that your sharing, liking and commenting on this post goes a long way in helping to give voice to the persecuted.

All proceeds from the sale of the book support the work of the BPCA.  Much of the early sales will be used to support victims of the Peshawar bomb attacks - December 2013.

BPCA rep speaks at Christian New Media Conference

On Saturday 20th, Nathanael Lewis spoke for the BPCA at a national conference put on by Premier Radio.  The conference was all about the use of New Media.  BPCA were invited to speak about the role of New Media in getting the story of persecuted Christians out.  He talked for 10 minutes in the plenary session in front of about 400 delegates about the advantages and pitfualls of the work, and some of BPCA's experiences, as well as about one particular recent incident where abuse of 'New Media' has led to international incidents around the world, including attacks on churches and Christians in Pakistan, which BPCA will be posting about shortly.

Glasgow protest Press release and pictures

Scottish Christians and other supporters for religious freedom in Pakistan gathered outside the Pakistani Consulate in Glasgow on the morning of Friday 31st August to protest the case of Rimsha Masih, a young teenager with learning disabilities, who was charged with blasphemy and faces a death sentence.  The event was supported by the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA). 

Attacks by Muslim mobs calling for her to be burnt alive meant that her entire community has fled in fear from their homes.   BPCA's chairman, Wilson Chowdhry said 

A community has been besieged.  The residents have fled into a forest.  They are building homes from wood cut from the trees and holding church worship in a similarly makeshift church building.  Their properties have been looted.  They have lost.  And this was the aim all along.  The Mullah who incited the violence and is now pressing charges of Rimsha openly admitted on Pakistani TV to stirring up the violence with his sermons.  This is typical tactics by Islamicists, and a similar pattern is being repeated on an almost daily basis across Pakistan.  Their openly stated aim is to religiously cleanse areas and ultimately the whole of Pakistan of all non-Muslims by forced conversion and violence and threats.  

As well as chants and speeches, the protesters handed in a petition to consular officials in front of the TV news cameras.  The officials declined to comment.

The event was supported by the Scottish Asian Christian Association whose Chairman Sheem Gill said

We are here today because we want to support our brothers and sisters in Pakistan.  They are suffering a great deal, and most of it doesn’t get on the news.  They live in fear, caught between warring factions, extremists, criminals and extremists, and all too frequently those attacking them have the tacit and sometimes open support of the police.  The blasphemy law creates an excuse for anyone to attack the weak, the powerless, or someone you have a dispute with, and there is no punishment provided for those who abuse this law, which makes it all the more tempting for people to misuse it.  

The initiator of the protest, Anila Athar Hasan, of the Rationalist Society of Pakistan said

As we speak, we are honouring and celebrating those with impairments at the Paralympics in London, but in Pakistan they are beating and burning them.  The mob that surrounded the police station demanded Rimsha be brought out so they could burn her alive.  This was not an isolated threat.  A few weeks ago a Muslim man, also with a mental impairment, was arrested on similar grounds.  A 2000 strong mob stormed the police station, dragged him out and beat and burnt him alive in the street outside the station.  This is the mentality out there.  Pakistan, when are you going to stop killing your children?

The BPCA is holding a similar rally today, 1st September, outside the Pakistani consulate in Manchester.

Notes for editors.

Rimsha Masih is a young girl, aged 11 - if you believe her church and family, or 14 if you believe the official medical report - with a mental or learning impairment.  Her family say she has Downs Syndrome, the medical report stated that her 'mental age appears to be below her chronological age.  Rimsha was accused of blasphemy by burning pages said to contain verses from the Quran.

The background is that the local Imam, who is pressing charges against her, had been stirring up hatred of Christians through his sermons, calling on Christians to be evicted from their homes.  One of his followers then accused Rimsha of having burnt and torn pages with Quranic verses in her bag.  She and her family were attacked and beaten, and mobs attacked and looted Christian homes in the slum in Islamabad where she lived. Hundreds of Christians fled the area.   Rimsha was arrested, and a mob gathered outside demanding the police hand her over to be burned alive.

The lawyer acting for the Imam in pressing charges against Rimsha has accused her and the state of being complicit in creating an illegal medical report, and has said called for her to be killed extra-judicially if the courts acquit her.

For further details, both about the Rimsha case, and Christian sufferings in Pakistan in general, please see postings on the BPCA blogspot http://britishpakistanichristian.blogspot.co.uk/

Glasgow protest on Scottish TV, Manchester protest tomorrow

Today Pakistani and other Scottish Christians, as well as other people concerned for human rights in Pakistan, gathered to protest outside the Pakistani consulate in Glasgow, and to lodge a protest about Rimsha.  

Scottish TV reporters were there and it featured on the news, showing the protest, covering something of the background to the case and for Pakistani Christians situation in general.  

They included a brief snippet of interview with Wilson Choudhry, who talked about the devastating effects the situation has on Rimsha's Christian neighbours.  

Unfortunately, it also included a quote from a Christian cleric that was inaccurate.  Rimsha was not charged and sentenced yesterday.  She has been remanded in custody, as the police have appealed for more time to investigate, and the prosecuting lawyer has challenged the medical report, claiming it was illegal and was a result of Rimsha 'colluding' with the state.  Appallingly, the same lawyer has openly called for Rimsha to be killed extra-judicially if the courts acquit her.  

The BPCA is holding another protest tomorrow outside the Manchester consulate from 12-3 pm.  Scottish Pakistani Christians rallied at Glasgow with less than 24 hours notice.  We are calling for as many Pakistani Christians in the North of England as possible to turn out in support of your brothers and sisters in Pakistan.  

The consulate address is Pakistan House  137 Dickenson Road, Rusholme, Manchester M14 5JB.  

We look forward to seeing many of you there.

TV News report

Unholy gang rape and murder of 12 year old Christian girl

Muqadas Kainat - gang raped, throttled

On Pakistan's Independence day (14th August), some Muslim men decided to celebrate by gang raping and murdering a vulnerable 12 year old Christian girl called Muqadas Kainat (which means 'Holy Universe') in an wholly unholy act while her parents were at hospital where her mother was having an appendix operation.  After family realized she had gone missing, her father rushed home to search among neighbours houses in the Brick Kiln works where the family lived and worked.  The next day the Muslim Kiln foreman received an anonymous call on his mobile, stating she was in the fields, and after searching in the local fields they found her body.

The police post-mortem showed she was gang raped - police believe by 5 men - and then strangled.    So far, to BPCA's knowledge, no-one has been arrested.

What a happy and wonderful Independence Day in the nation with the most horribly ironic epithet - the so called 'Land of the Pure'.  

The reason this took so long to come out was because the crime happened in Sahiwal, which is somewhat remote.  

Please pray for the girls father Rafique Masih, and the mother and other family, and that justice would be done. 

It is for cases like these, and that of Rimsha Masih, the equally young girl arrested for 'blasphemy', that the BPCA is holding a demonstration outside the Pakistani Consulate in Manchester on 1st September 2012 from 12 noon to 3pm. Guest speaker David Dean of Nelson. 

Address 137 Dickenson Road, Rusholme, Manchester M14 5JB.

Nearest major railway station is Manchester Piccadilly.  Ardwick station and Levenshulme station are also close by.  

Source

  

Ooberfuse launch Rimsha Masih single

Catholic band Ooberfuse have once again teamed up with BPCA to produce a single highlighting the case of Rimsha Masih.  Please use it to spread the word far and wide.

Videos - Irshad and an impromptu dancer at Trafalgar Square

Two  videos are on you-tube of our Trafalgar Square Peace Concert :

BPCA supporter mentions work in guest blog

Charmaine - blog host

One of the supporters of BPCA has used an opportunity to guest write an article called 'Jerusalem - Well spring of creativity' for a US Christian blog. He has used it in part to mention the work of the BPCA.

Thank you Charmaine for graciously hosting the article

Surprise visit - hints of a thaw?

Wilson Chowdhry, head of the BPCA, was surprised and delighted at the unannounced visit of Salas Raza Kiani, Minister of Community and Welfare at the Pakistani High Commission in London, to the Carnival Wilson organised last month.

Wilson siad that he was very pleased to see him, and hopes that this gesture presages a rapproachment between the BPCA and the High Commission, and that they will be able to work together once more to improve the situation for Christians and other religious minorities in Pakistan. He also hopes it will lead to the rescinding on the ban against travelling to Pakistan that has been imposed on him.