10 year old kidnapped on way to school

A 10 year old Christian girl named Aney Tariq was kidnapped on 4th September while on the way to school in Gujranwala in North East Pakistan.  The same day her kidnapper, Haider Butt claimed that of her own will she had converted to Islam and married him.  The police are doing nothing about it.

Wilson Chowdhry of the BPCA said :

"Once again we have an implausible claim that a 10 year old girl freely agrees to convert and marry an assailant, in an obvious cover up of the serious crime of kidnapping and presumed rape.  It always seems to be the young and vulnerable who suddenly 'of their own free will' convert to Islam and marry their kidnappers / rapists?  Moreover these pernicious rapists try and cover their crime with a cloak of piety."  

Pakistani law states 18 is the legal age for marriage, while many Islamic laws state the age is 16.  However many extreme sects of Islam claim that a girl can be married when she first menstruates.  According to her family, even under this paedophile's charter, the marriage was illegitimate as Aney had not started her periods.

The rate of kidnap and rape of Christian girls and women in Pakistan -  and this does not include victims of other minorities - is thought to be at least 2 a day, and most of these cases involve claims that the victims freely converted to Islam and then married (one of) their rapists.

Source

Christian student kidnapped, tortured in conversion attempt

BPCA has seen reports from another Christian group - Barnabas Fund - that a 20 year old Christian student has been kidnapped by a radical Islamic group in Pakistan.  The group had apparently been trying to convert him to Islam, and on August 29th they kidnapped him.  They chained him up, severely beat him and threatened to kill him.  They may also have given him mind-altering drugs, and although the police found and rescued him and returned him to his family, he has been seriously psychologically affected by his ordeal.  These are all the details given, no doubt to protect the young man and his family.

Source

Another gang rape in Punjab

A Khanewal Hospital

BPCA have just received news that there has been yet another gang rape of a Christian girl, this time in Khanewal in the Punjab province, about 200 km west -southwest of Lahore.

The 13 year old girl whose name is reported as Farah Danial, was raped by four attackers (described as 'young boys') has been admitted to Khanewal hospital for treatment, and is greatly distressed.

Please pray with her for justice and for healing.

Source : Facebook contact

Evidence - Orphan Christian boy Suneel Masih killed for his organs

Further evidence suggests that the recently orphaned Christian boy killed in Faisalabad after being tortured, mutilated and burned was killed for his organs by organ traffickers.  The autopsy showed some of his organs were found to be missing.  Suneel Masih's body was found in a drain, the day after he went missing after going to the market to get some food.

Organ trafficking is a massive ongoing issue in Pakistan, especially kidneys, with many cases reported of organ donors being sexually assaulted and held against their will.  Pakistan is a major destination for those seeking black market organ transplants.  

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.

Sources 1 and 2

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

  

'The Way to survive in Pakistan'

We received a request to publish this article in an email from the author, signed off

In His Grace

Riaz Anjum Advocate

Chairman Pakistan Christian Movement

We include this, not necessarily because we agree with everything in it, or even its overall solution, but to give voice to Christians from Pakistan. Here is the text of his article 'Way to survive in Pakistan' (I have edited it a little to improve the English, but I hope I have preserved all the nuances of his meaning faithfully).

It is beyond any doubt that the progress of communities, nations and countries has always been result of collective efforts of its individuals. Only nations, countries and communities whose individual members prefer their national interest over their personal interest can be successful in the social, economic, and political fields. Take, for instance, the example of Israel which does not have much in the way of natural resources but has the best human material. Her individuals are very much passionate about their nation. Israel's influence on the politics and economy of the world is due to her extraordinary human material and the passionate sacrifice of her citizens for their country. The level of passion for Israel is such that a Jew living in USA ,UK or in any part of the world is as committed and true to Israel as a Jew who lives in Israel. This kind of passion makes Israel a power of the world.

We are living in the modern world of 21st century and we all know that it is world of biotechnology, genetics, engineering and space science, but Pakistani Christians are worried for their bread and butter and basic education. Christians have been exploited both by Christian politicians and the Pakistani Establishment. On one hand the Pakistani Establishment kept Christians in deprivation by making discriminatory laws and on other hand Christians Politicians failed to deliver and change the destiny of the Christians of Pakistan.

Blasphemy Laws have damaged Christians psychologically, socially and and economically. Due to the failure of Christian leadership and the attitude of the Pakistani Establishment, Christians are leading a very miserable life in Pakistan. The activities of Christian politicians have always been confined to development work to do with street cleaning and sewerage. Christian young people have not been given jobs in governmental departments. Representation of Christians in civil and military departments isn't even nominal. There is not a single Christian Ambassador, nor Judge of the High or Supreme court, nor chairman of any department of Government - if there is, it's just an exception. It seems that it is the policy of state establishment that they will not give any important seat to Christians in Pakistan. In Pakistan Christians and Muslims are considered two separate nations due to their difference of religion. Christians are very far behind in almost all fields of life compared to Muslims in Pakistan. The cooperation of the international community has not been encouraging towards Pakistani Christians. The International community has been supportive of Christian NGOs and churches but has never been supportive of Christian politicians in Pakistan. We must know that a strong political party and a true, visionary and brave leadership can change the destiny of Christians of Pakistan. The solution of all the problems of Pakistani Christians is to organize a major and strong political party which can defend the rights of the Christians of Pakistan, able to force the government to repeal the Blasphemy laws and can change the destiny of the Christians of Pakistan. Christians of Pakistan and overseas Pakistani Christians must sacrifice for the collective cause - like the people of Israel - and help Christian politicians in defending their rights. The international Community should support Christian political parties and Christian politicians because only a visionary, brave and foresighted leader can do miracles for his nation and can change the destiny of his people. This is not only a ray of hope for Christians of Pakistan but also the way to survive in Pakistan

Hospital Hold-Up

A small coterie of Muslim businessman have tried to inveigle the police into helping them steal a whole hospital in Taxilla near Islamabad from the Presbyterian church several months ago. The Catholic bishop from Islamabad has intervened, and a district police officer investigated and promised that the culprits would be arrested. As usual, the culprits were prominent businessmen aided by influential local political figures. They claimed that the missionary-owned hospital had been sold to them, and that the hospital administrators were refusing to hand over the property. They filed a report with the police, and later ramped up the pressure by accusing the administrators of blasphemy.

The Catholic bishop, Rufin Anthony, said 'This is not a first attempt to take over Church or missionary property by force. The Christian Hospital in Taxila has been targeted by various groups in the past.'

Thankfully, a Gojra-type incident seems to have been avoided, but it could so easily have been that abuse of the blasphemy law and manipulation religious feeling for greedy theft of a hospital led to such an incident. The incident gives further weight to the need for the Government of Pakistan to turn from its cowardly deference to Islamicist fanatics, and re-commit to amending the corrupting and corrosive blasphemy laws.

Thanks again to Asia News for reporting this story.

Dishonourable honour in the UK - a black and white example? And what if.....

Today a news article caught my eye. A family of albino Muslims in Coventry have had their home's windows smashed, and received many death threats.

The family (the father was born in Pakistan) have been used to ridicule because of the genetic condition that causes their white skin and hair, and eyesight problems, but five months ago, they started to receive death threats. The reason? five months ago a national magazine had published an article (this may not be the relevant article, but it is an interview with the lady in question that I found) about the albino condition which had featured their daughter, Naseem. She had left home and now has very little contact with the family (see below for the reason from her perspective). She married a Christian and goes to church. When the article came out, it was posted on walls around the family's house, and posted through the letter boxes of other Muslim families in the area, resulting in death threats, smashed house windows and vandalism of their car, because to them the daughter marrying a non-Muslim had brought dishonour to that family. The family has

spent £100's on security cameras and are considering fleeing the city to get away from their persecutors. Last week they were driven to call in the police to investigate.

In the second article, Naseem describes how she fled home at 18 to avoid arranged marriage and about her fears of possible retribution. I also found a blogger on a Pakistani forum who reposted both articles here - scroll down, to see the comments as they are revealing. Apart from the normal sympathy for the family, and typical denigration of the national paper ('Only x reported this news' and 'x is not a reliable source of information') and attempts to imply that the story was made up, or re-hashed and old had ('Firm believer in Islam' comments 'plus isnt this story like really really old?') when the family had only just called in the police, what is most disturbing is the attitudes of several posters, including a forum moderator.

The moderator is the first to comment, saying in part 'the first post is quite a disturbing read. If people want to show their hatred. they should find the daughter and pelt her home with whatever they wanted. Poor parents have already got too much on thier plates.' The moderator went on to say that even though he disagreed with many of Naseem's views, she seemed to be doing well for herself. The moderator, Saby is immediately taken to task on his comments by Zareen who asks why anyone should pelt the daughters house, saying there is much more to Islam than just this aspect. The last post is by Saby, in reply, who flippantly dismisses his implied call for attacks on the errant Naseem by saying 'It was a tongue in cheek comment ZK. Of course there is more to islam than this aspect. '

Saby says the first article is a disturbing read. But what I find disturbing is that his concern is not about the crime but the target. Apparently the poor parents have already got too much on their plates. But the daughter too has the albinism, and suffers the prejudice too, and also the fear of honour killing, yet it's OK to target her, and to show hatred to her? Pity the poor Muslim parents, but pelt the turncoat.... Now, I am not saying that Saby is consciously advocating people tracking down the daughter and attacking her (though he may be, and certainly others would want to do that), as he seems quite reasonable - he mildly comments she seems to be doing quite well. But notice how his thinking instantly is that it is illegitimate to target the Muslim parents, but OK to target the daughter who goes to church and married a Christian. This illustrates the fundamental attitude that means even in the UK, those who come to the truth of Jesus from Islam face danger from their home communities.

Another typical attitude is displayed by FBI786 'Firm Believer in Islam' who's tag-line ('My dear heart never think you are better than others. Listen to their sorrows with compassion. If you want peace, don't harbour bad thoughts do not gossip and don't teach what you do not know.) seems rather at odds with their comments which precisely do what we are apparently not to do - Naseem's sorrows are not listened to with any compassion at all.....

'FBI786', in response to someone who comments on Naseem's interview that 'she seems an intelligent girl', says the following :

'Not intelligent enough id say .. about not thinking what the consequences are going to be for her and her family .. and not learning from the past that ppl give hard time with that condition and on top of it .. to make things worse ..marry into a non muslim family .. i d say .. parents are partially to blame for not giving her the proper upbringing in teaching her the 'Islamic Code of Conduct' .. and if someone goes and disobeys the ayat of the Qur'aan ..simply these are the consequences..'

This I suggest, is a typical example of the 'blame and scapegoat the victim' mentality that is often so common. Naseem thought about the consequences for herself when she ran away from the suffocation of an arranged marriage. But according to this poster, the fault of the acts of hatred is hers for bringing down the supposedly impersonal consequences, rather than the fault being those who act with such vile hatred. The victim is blamed for the 'simple consequences', not the people who actively bring about the 'consequences'.

Firstly, we need to pray for Aslam Parvez and his family, that their tormentors would be discovered and brought to justice, and hatred against them should be stopped. And let us pray that the love of Jesus be made known and effective in that family. But we also need to note that the attitudes that led to their suffering and terror is something that needs to be vigorously opposed. We need to openly and boldly challenge the idea that it is somehow OK to target those who have changed their faith. The last poster we referred to obviously thinks it is justified for her to suffer the consequences of disobeying 'the ayat (definition here) of the Quraan'. Thus 'simply these are the consequences...' But they are not. They are the work of human beings, and they are the consequence not of Naseem's actions, but of people steeped in a bizarre concept of 'honour' that demeans free will and continually imputes guilt by association. You are condemned, under this code, for what someone else does, as Naseem's family is finding out.

Let me illustrate the illogic with several examples from the Bible (written, by the way, in a culture which also had a kind of honour-shame culture). Firstly from the Old Testament book of Judges, chapter 6. Israel is under oppression from the Midianites because of their sin. God sends an angel to Gideon, who is hiding in the winepress and calls him to action. His first task, says God, is to tear down the idols of the false gods in his home town and turn their sacred place into an altar for the true God. The problem is that the priest of those same false gods was Gideon's own father, Joash. Gideon obeys, but at night in secret, in fear of his family and his community. His fear proves to be partially justified, because once the townspeople discover who was responsible for so dishonouring their god and, in their eyes, shaming their community they demand his blood (v30 : Bring out your son. He must die.....). But Joash's answer as the priest of the false god Baal is very relevant to the situation we are looking at today. In v31 he replies 'Are you going to plead Baal’s cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar'. The gods, if they are real gods, can take care of their own honour.....

Acts 5 shows this principle twice over. As Jesus' apostles preached the good news, they enraged a faction of the Jewish Sanhedrin who 'When they heard ... were furious and wanted to put them to death. But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. Then he addressed the Sanhedrin: “Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.” (v33-39).

And earlier on, when God was dishonoured by two Christians lying to God and the Christian community about a semi-sham act of charity, there was no call for acts against them, for it was God himself who defended His honour. If a god is truly God then he will need no human hands to defend his honour and bring about 'simple consequences'. We need to remind certain of our Pakistani countryman that to be more concerned about family honour rather than God's honour is tantamount to idolatry, as are certain kinds of acting to defend God's honour. If a God cannot defend himself and needs to rely on human help to enforce his will, he is no God at all, but an idol, helpless like the pagan idols that need to be carried around on human shoulders.

But let us go back to the Parvez family for a minute. They, Muslims, living in an at least nominally Christian country, can go to police and reasonably expect their complaint to be taken seriously and their terror and oppression to be alleviated. But what of the Christians of Pakistan who face many times worse threats, like the rape of their two year old daughters if they do not convert, kidnap, forced conversion and marriage, false accusations, lynching and murder? Who can they go to, when the police so often knuckle under to Muslim extremists and imams, often the very ones who have incited the violence in the first place? When they are forced into 'peace reconciliation' with the very promoters of communal violence against them? When their public defenders are brutally and publicly assassinated?

That difference says a lot.

Whilst we should pray for the peace and safety of the Parvez family, how much more must we also challenge and expose the medieval dishonour that has put them, and so many others, in terror for their lives?