Deja Vu - Death threats against Bhatti Brother

Paul Bhatti  photo from Assist News

BPCA have received reports that Paul Bhatti, brother to the slain Government minister Shahbaz Bhatti, is receiving serious death threats - apparently from the usual suspects, Islamicists angry about him standing up for the rights of Rimsha and those similarly accused of blasphemy.  Paul Bhatti is Federal Minister for National Harmony, a somewhat similar role to that which his brother had.  

He has requested extra Government security, something that the family believe could have saved Shahbaz's life, had the government seen fit to give it.

Source - Local activist on Facebook

Rimsha prosecution lawyer calls for extra-judicial killing, blames victim for medical report

Lawyer calling for law-breaking : Rao Abdur Raheem,  Photo Faisal Mahmood / Reuters

The lawyer representing the cleric who is charging Rimsha has done everything in his power to keep Rimsha in prison.  Not surprising for a prosecution lawyer, you might think.  Except this lawyer has been openly calling for her to be killed if she was released.   The medical report stated she was a minor, aged about 14, with learning disability, and thus eligible for bail.  At the remand hearing, at which apparently no lawyer turned up to represent Rimsha, Rao vigorously challenged the report, claiming that the medical report - 'has been managed by the state, state agencies and the accused' - in other words, just like the bigoted and hate filled imam he represents, he is blaming the Downs syndrome victim for 'conspiracy' - this time with the state!  Rao Abdur Raheem also claimed the report was illegal, as it was ordered by a civil servant and not a court, and exceeded it's remit, which was, he claims, to establish her age.  (Rimsha's family insist she is actually 11).

The lawyer has been making extremely inflammatory statements.  The Guardian quoted him as saying :

 'If the court is not allowed to do its work, because the state is helping the accused, then the public has no other option except to take the law into their own hands'

and he also incited violence in regard to Rimsha by saying outside court

'There are many Mumtaz Qadris in this country'

Mumtaz Qadri is the bodyguard who assassinated Governor Taseer last year for standing up for Asia Bibi, and who is much praised by many - including lawyers - in Pakistan.  In other words he is calling for people to murder Rimsha, just like the cleric he represents, who wanted her burned alive.

The Telegraph also reported him as saying :

'If you burn me, I will forgive you, but if you burn our Koran, then I will fight a legal battle to seek maximum punishment for anyone doing this act'

disturbing rhetoric in light of his client calling for her to be burned alive on the spot.

The judge has remanded Rimsha in adult jail along with terrorists and murders for another 14 days while he 'considers the matter further'.  While the BPCA is no expert on legal matters that may require 'further consideration', we are extremely concerned that what is in fact happening is that with such rhetoric the judge is folding, perhaps out of fear of his own life - a real fear, given past blasphemy cases.

Sources : 1, 2, 3, 4

Islamic extremists target champion of Karachi Christians

BPCA have received the following report from Liaquat, who heads up MASS, an organisation that supports and stands up for Christians in Karachi, particular in some of the poorer areas.  Once more Islamic extremists - in this case, the Taliban - show their cowardice and moral bankruptcy by targeting those who peacefully and courageously stand up for those vulnerable people the cowards target.


Dear brothers and sisters of the world,
I have severe life threat from the fundamentlist.The terrorist gave life threat on 12th august 2012 in the P.I.B police station  at 10:30pm.They told me we will kill you and your family.Because you are working for the voiceless christians in Pakistan.the P.I.B police station arrest me and Mr.Raja yousaf Bhatti (senior vise president of MASS),Mr.Nasir Jhon (cultural secretary of MASS),Mr.Talat Mehmood (member of advisory council).They are also get the same life threat in P.I.B police station Karachi Pakistan.
Due to this life threat we cant sleep properly,we cant eat properly,and we cant move properly,we are very depressed and shocked.Our famlies are very depressed and upset,and also our well wishers are very depressed and upset.All peoples of ESSA NAGRI (bigest christian colony of karachi) are depressed because lot of time we forward the applications to police and other authroties.But police and authroties are fail to provide us security.In this bad and tipical situation ,our power is our God.I request to my all christian brothers and sisters,kindly pray for us and our families God will save us.
Yours brother in JESUS CHRIST
Liaquat Munawar Masih

MASS

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

Update on Ashfaq and Eric Sarwar

Ashfaq after surgery

We have received news that Ashfaq successfully underwent surgery for his facial and jaw injuries sustained in the attack by Muslim militants that left him at deaths door. As is typical, the police (after beating him up) are refusing to file a FIR, even though there was information as to who was involved. The family are traumatised. The attack was meant to kill, and came very close to doing so.

In addition the family are receiving specific death threats, saying they are targeted for killing, that they will have their throats slit and their bodies left in bags in the Karachi streets.

PLEASE PRAY for the protection of the entire family at this time.

Asia Bibi's family and the Islamicist Vice

We call for renewed prayer for Asia Bibi and her family. Even while still unjustly kept in prison under a death sentence based simply on prejudice (Muslim colleagues in the fields reported her after she dared to touch and drink from the same water bowl as them and the ensuing confrontation) and malice, the death threats continue. A Muslim leader has offered a 4 figure (dollars) reward for her death, and in prison she eats only the food her husband can bring, to try and eliminate the threat of poisoning. Thousands of Muslim fundamentalists are holding the government to ransom, trying to get the death penalty carried out, and opposing the just international efforts to reverse this unlawful and wicked perversion of justice.

In addition, the fundamentalists are issuing death threats against her husband and daughters (including a disabled girl) and against her wider family. They are especially threatening to kill anyone who tries to get in contact with the family, reports the local church minister, Kamran Michael. Evidently the idea is to exert psychological pressure and a sense of isolation on the family. Even if messages can't get through, our prayers can.

Thanks to the Christians in Pakistan website for alerting us to this issue

http://www.christiansinpakistan.com/asia-bibi-update/#more-1325

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?