Churches burnt in India

[roadrunner]

Pakistanis know India more than most other countries. It's after all, its neighbour. India's fanatics are well known to everyone, and the world. This incident is being reported worldwide.

"Since 1998, persecution against Christians in India has escalated. Churches have been burned, pastors are beaten, and nuns and women of the church are raped. In recent years, this specific persecution has increased even more. Church properties in one Indian state were taken over and the graves of the deceased were dug up and desecrated. Images on the Dalit Freedom Network’s promotional CD show men whose heads lay open from severe beatings and women who weep at the death of loved ones."
http://www.cbn.com/700club/Guests/Bios/Joseph_DSouza042205.aspx

Plenty of non Muslims are signing petitions too. The common man obviously recognized India is not this beacon of secularity, it's only the media which tries not to pick it up (though in the case of the recent carol singer arrests and 16 burnt churches in one night, even New York Times was reporting it.

Denounce the massive muders of Christians and Jewish community by Indian Hindu Organizations. Petition

 

[Bushroda]

Well come up with a better article next time to prove someone wrong other then from some J whoever he was which could not even be validated.

Ahhh!! I didn't knew that an article needs your approval to be held authentic. Here is the same article from various sources

Kidnap Hindu Girl, Force Marriage to Muslim: Pakistan - J. Grant Swank Jr. - Nov 25, 05(Source: American Daily)

Kidnap Hindu, Force Marriage to Muslim | The News is NowPublic.com(Source: nowpublic.com)

KIDNAP HINDU GIRL, FORCE MARRIAGE TO MUSLIM: PAKISTAN : ArriveNet Editorials : Society(Source: Arrivenet editorial)

Kidnap Hindu, Force Marriage to Muslim by Grant Swank(Source:Conservative Voice)

Program Message(Source: michnews.com)

You can pick up whichever you deem valid. Some members over here have used articles from blogs to justify their point. I am sure they are all very authentic as per you.

Also it was not me who brought the issue but a mere response to vindod who said that we dont expect lectures about secularism from a non secular country.

And you wrongfully tried to validate the point that Pakistan protects its minorities as per the teachings of islam. Over here you arn't just trying to falsely vindicate something which is untrue but also unnecessarily dragging Islam which nowhere says Kidnapping Hindu girls & forcing their marriage to Muslims.

Besides like i always say pakistan isnt secular so perhaps according to you rights of non muslim must not be safe in pakistan but india is atleast thats what indians protay, so in a country where all are same and secured with respect to their religions and beliefs, an act like this puts a doubt.

So that's your escape route? If question is turned back on Pakistan, raise hands in the air, pronounce yourself non-secular & escape from the back route. I told you in my last post why India is secular. It doesn't stop any individual from achieving any position irrespective of his faith & beliefs. It is an individuals constitutional right.

Now how many Indians act secular is different from India being secular. Even in a mature democracy & highly literate country like US, there are still ethnic clashes. Very recently in Paris there were riots against Muslims. India is huge & sometimes there is clashes of interest in someplaces.

Also if you do a little google and compare the percentage of the rights abuse both in india and pakistan, you will find out that besides being a non secular country minority abuse is very low as compared to what happens in secular india.

I just gave you a link of which you questioned the authenticity simply coz it hits at the wrong nerves. If you need I can provide you tons of articles to refute you. So let's just leave it there. I do not indulge in Mudslinging & you would do better by not going there.

 

[roadrunner]

Bushroda. All those Kidnap articles are written by the same person. That does not mean that other news outlets are reporting it. It just means that some (very minor) news outlets have reported the SAME article, not that this article has been confirmed from OTHER sources.

So far, only one media source has reported this Kidnap article..and that is J.Grant Swank Jr. My guess is he is Indian and Hindu and a fanatical extremist like some other Indians.

 

[Vinod2070]

Aggreed, however the same principle should be applied to everyone and everywhere and not only to india.

Agreed without reservation!

Thats a matter of opinion and self interest. If you talk about the world, even you know how bias they are. Allow me to prove it. The US is the most that shouts for deomcracy all of the world, since we are talking about SA so in this case pakistan and how they want to see democracy prevail here but this is the same US that supports the dictatorship in egypt because that serves their purpose and i can give you many other examples. You see if these churches were burnt in pakistan, all hell would had got loose from all over the world, the humanrights watch, the media, the redcross and god knows what, but in india's case no one bothered to even condemn the act if not more. So as for you saying why only pakistanies and not the rest of the world simple because hipocrasy is at its top. India is just too important strategicaly for them to raise issues like these.

IceCold, its not that the incident is not being reported as a fellow member has so kindly compiled a list of links. And pl. do not link this issue with US policy worldwide as these issues are not connected.

I may agree with you about these incidents being highlighted more if they had occurred in Pakistan. I do not claim to know why that is so. But I assume India being a secular democracy with the same rules for all citizens could be a factor. May be your Hudood ordinance and reports of their misuse by some bigots could be a factor. That may make some believe that the state is complicit or at least looks benevolently at such things. But I would agree with your point that the vast majority of Pakistanis are not involved in these acts the same as Indians.

I guess we need to be able to keep these things in perspective and see that their scale is miniscule in the overall scheme of things. This is by no means condoning these acts which need to be condemned and stongest action taken against the perpetrators.

 

[Vinod2070]

The girls kidnapping issue was widely reported in the Pakistani press itself and I read an opinion piece on that in dawn which was very thought provoking. To try to deny these incidents won't cut ice.

 

[Proud to be Pakistani]

The girls kidnapping issue was widely reported in the Pakistani press itself and I read an opinion piece on that in dawn which was very thought provoking. To try to deny these incidents won't cut ice.

No one can deny the incidents but what is true is that in India the problem that Christian community is facing is far greater than the one they faced in entire history of Pakistan. Isolated incidents in Paksitan can not be compared with outragious actions against christians in India.

 

[roadrunner]

The girls kidnapping issue was widely reported in the Pakistani press itself and I read an opinion piece on that in dawn which was very thought provoking. To try to deny these incidents won't cut ice.

If it's true, it's true, I havent seen any other articles about it, except for this guy. But in that case, it's just one criminal case, nothing on the scale of violence against a whole ethnic group. One could quite easily quote Muslim girls being kidnapped for example in India, or outside.

Muslim girl raped by Hindu man in Palo Alto

LAHORE–The alleged rape of a Muslim girl by a Hindu man in Palo Alto, California, has triggered a strong protest, and over 10 organizations representing South Asians have condemned it, with one of them describing it as a glimpse of what happened with Muslims in Gujarat during the recent riots.The Nation Plus

Hate rape of a Muslim girl condemned | Indian Muslim Council-USA

However, these represent isolated rape cases. What is more significant is the following cases of rape perpetrated against Muslim women by Hindus, as reported by the BBC.

BBC News | SOUTH ASIA | Gujarat Muslim women 'rape victims'

Let's not spam the thread with incidences that are irrelevant to the current topic. These sorts of (isolated) kidnappings exist in all communities. Stick to the thread.

 

[Vinod2070]

No one can deny the incidents but what is true is that in India the problem that Christian community is facing is far greater than the one they faced in entire history of Pakistan. Isolated incidents in Paksitan can not be compared with outragious actions against christians in India.

You are getting a misleading picture of the conditions of Christians in India based on a few isolated incidents. They are not subjected to any kind of discriminatory laws where they can be hanged just because a bigot who has any eye on someone's property can just accues him of stuff and they can be prosecuted.

There are thousands and thousands of churches in all parts of India. Every city has them in large numbers as also the Temples, Gurudwaras and Mosques. They are all safe and devotees visit them wihout any second thoughts about safety. A few incidents in remote tribal areas should not cause people to draw alarmist picture of the overall situation.

Media reports can be sensationalist and exaggerate things as you may be well aware.

Now I am trying to point this out to people who are willing to exchange opinions and change their minds if facts are otherwise.

Those who have decided that India is evil no matter what, it will be a waste of my time and their's when we know the end result in advance.

 

[Vinod2070]

RR I never brought any Pakistani incident in this thread. It was just to say that the fact was true.

 

[roadrunner]

Not you, I meant Bushroda

 

[Vinod2070]

And pl. let's not try to bring Hindu Muslim in this!

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

a view from Pakistan: courtesy the Pakistan Christian Post

Don't cry for us, Pakistani Christians: We can take care of ourselves: follows this post


Christians in India
Mauricio Soares
August 4, 2002



Pakistanis know better than anybody else what kind of communal discord and disparity ravages it. You don't get to read much because the religious minority hardly has a voice in the country.

But it is interesting ( read disgusting) to note that inspite of being treated like litter , they somehow muster the patriotism to indulge in anti-India propaganda thus justifying their being Pakistanis.

It is more than a coincidence that the Pakistan Hindu Patrika , a journal of Pakistani Hindus , also reflects the same diatribe directed at India.

Though I would not say , we the Christians, have no complaints of violation of our rights in a secular India, one can equivocally say that Indian Christians cannot complain about any sort of discrimination or segregation in the society.

Let us not forget that Indian Christians can complain and introspect without fear only because of the equality and freedom vested in themselves by the secularity of the Indian constitution which belongs to them as much as it does to anybody else.

India struggles from time to time with its pluralism but the equality and religious freedom it offers is exemplary.

Christians in India by and large live as equals though being a minority. They do not have and wish for special representation in society or government because they do not need it.

They are not marginalised by society in any way that the government need to organise their representation. To make a long story short , it is not wise on Pakistani Christian organisations to paint a false picture of their brotherhood across the border in India just to appease their government and their majority Muslim population.

But that they have to do that to merely survive in a largely theocratic state is understandable.

Mauricio Soares
August 4, 2002

In reply to Article "Hounded, Beaten, Shot What you can do to help persecuted Christians in India" in the Pakistan Christian Post



Don't Cry for us, Pakistani Christians
Tom Ryan



I must say that i find it indeed very astonishing that with the atrocities being committed in your country against your community you still have the time and the effort to see fit to worry about Christians in India.

The only thing that I can say in this regard is "thanks, but we can take care of ourselves" and "people who live in glass houses ought not to throw stones on others'.

I do not doubt that there are serious happenings against the community in India, but compared to the travails that you have to go through it pales in comparison.

At least

1) In India people are free to convert to whichever religion salves their consciousness.

2) There is no bonded labour in India solely on the basis of community.

3) Even though as a percentage there are more Christians in Pakistan than in India (10% vs 2.4 %), in India, Christians have been heads of the Army, Navy, Air force, Supreme Court etc. How many Pakistani Christians have held the same post in Pakistan?

4) We have never had electorates on the basis of religion.

5) Christians almost made it to the highest posts of Prime Minister and President ( Sonia Gandhi and Alexander respectively)

6) large numbers of Christians are recruited into the Indian military / police. The Khalistani militancy that was launched by the ISI was largely checked by a Christian officer Julio Rebello. Are Christians even recruited into the Pak military?

7) There are quite a few Christian states in India viz, Goa, Mizoram, Nagaland, etc. How many Christian states are there in Pakistan?

8) When there are atrocities against Christians in India, the accused go the jail. when there are atrocities against Christians in Pakistan the perpetrators get the Hillal-I-Jurat!

Thus, please save your sympathies for your selves. The Christian community in India can go without it.

Tom Ryan, Bombay, India

VFTB editorial note: While the above Tom Ryan post contains a few inaccuracies, it makes an excellent general statement about present day religious freedom in India vis-a vis Pakistan.

The inaccuracies are as follows:

Neither Mrs. Sonia Gandhi (widow of late Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi) nor PC Alexander (retiring Governor of the State of Maharashtra ) have made it to the post of Prime Minister and President respectively. At least, not yet.

The Police Officer who finally brought the troubled State of Punjab under control is not Julio Rebello but Julio Ribeiro, a Goan Catholic .

August 18, 2002


Mauricio Soares: Christians in India

*************************

Man Sexually Assaulted in Pakistan After Refusing to Convert to Islam

Posted: Friday, June 29, 2007, 7:54 (BST)
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Lawyers in Pakistan are investigating a report that up to 30 men tortured and gang-raped a young Christian man for refusing to convert to Islam.

The victim is seriously injured and unable to move, Release International’s partner in Pakistan has reported. However, according to the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS) the police are keeping him locked up and have denied him medical treatment.

The police are also refusing to register the rape following a counter-claim made by his principal attacker – “a man of influence”, Release International has told Christian Today.

According to CLAAS, the Christian was invited to a game of cricket. A quarrel broke out and he was beaten up. Later that evening, the father of one of the Muslims asked the Christian over to his house.

Joseph Francis, the National Director of CLAAS, explained: “When he entered the drawing room, he found it filled with unknown people. They began to beat him severely. They threatened him with dire consequences if he did not accept Islam. After his refusal, they committed sodomy with him one by one for the whole night.”

Francis said that they later threw their victim out on the street unconscious.

CLAAS has visited the victim and his family. They believe the counter accusation that he stole money and a mobile phone is false. They say the charges were drawn up by the attacker, who has used his influence to put pressure on the authorities.

“We’re deeply concerned about the growing number of attacks against Christians in Pakistan,” says Release International’s CEO Andy Dipper. “We are receiving reports of rape, abductions and forced conversion. Pakistan is becoming an increasingly difficult place for Christians to live.

“To make matters worse, the government is pushing through a law which could impose the death penalty for any Muslim man who converts to Christianity – and life imprisonment for any woman."

"As well as being an attack on the basic human rights of Muslims, this will also make things harder for Christians who preach the gospel," concluded Dipper.

Release International is appealing to Christians to pray for the victim and for the lawyers at CLAAS, who are dealing with a growing number of atrocities against Christians.


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Man Sexually Assaulted in Pakistan After Refusing to Convert to Islam

I do not like posting these type of stuff since each country has its own problems and issues. However, when posts take a holier than thou stuff, one requires to bring people to Mother Earth.

 

[Bushroda]

Bushroda. All those Kidnap articles are written by the same person. That does not mean that other news outlets are reporting it. It just means that some (very minor) news outlets have reported the SAME article, not that this article has been confirmed from OTHER sources.

So far, only one media source has reported this Kidnap article..and that is J.Grant Swank Jr. My guess is he is Indian and Hindu and a fanatical extremist like some other Indians.

Let truth not be told so crucify the author

I repeat your words from one of your previous posts

"You don't like what they say, so you doubt them?"

Here is an article from another Hindu fanatic(Be sure to click on the title if you doubt the authenticity)

Pakistan Christian Children Sold as Slaves to Fund Islamic Militants
A leading member of a militant Islamic organisation based in Pakistan is funding its activities through the sale of Christian children into slavery, according to a Christian persecution watchdog group.

by Jennifer Riley
Christian Today
Posted: Monday, May 29, 2006, 15:59 (BST)

A leading member of a militant Islamic organisation based in Pakistan is funding its activities through the sale of Christian children into slavery, according to a Christian persecution watchdog group.

The militant Islamic organisation, Gul Khan, is said to abduct children between the ages of six to twelve from their homes in remote Christian villages in the Punjab and incarcerate them in deplorable conditions until they are sold, report the Barnabas Fund. Children supposedly sold into the sex trade or a life of domestic servitude sell for about US$1,700 each.

“The revelation of this horrifying trade in Christian boys to fund Islamic terrorism is an extreme manifestation of the discrimination and oppression of Christians in Pakistan,” said Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, the International Director of Barnabas Fund.

“The classical teachings of Islam on the second class status of non-Muslims (called dhimmi) create an attitude of contempt towards Pakistan’s Christian minority which is seen in a whole raft of daily discrimination, injustice and humiliation.”

According to Barnabas Fund, the children are beaten savagely, only fed once a day and ordered not to talk, play or pray.

The group reported that two Christian missionaries – one Pakistani, the other American – helped expose the slave trafficking after seeing photographs of boys for sale on the black market in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province.

The missionaries reportedly devised an elaborate and risky rescue plan where the Pakistani missionary posed as a Lahore businessman who wanted to buy boys to beg for him. The plan is said to have succeeded and the missionaries managed to buy back twenty boys and return them to their homes. Barnabas Fund said they were also able to film a member of the militant Islamic group Jamaat-ud Daawa (JUD) accepting money for 17 boys.

According to Barnabas Fund, Khan, the man who accepted the money, is a senior member of Jamaat-ud Daawa (JUD), an organisation linked to Al-Qaeda. The U.S. State Department has declared JUD to be a front for a terrorist group Lashkar-i-Toiba which is banned in both Pakistan and the U.K.

Yet JUD is popular in Pakistan for providing free medical care and education for the poor. After last year’s earthquake in Kashmir it was quick to give tents, blankets and food. At its base near Lahore, JUD claims to have created a “pure Islamic environment” that is superior to western “depravity.” The base was reportedly funded by Osama bin Laden in the late 1990s.

JUD and Al-Qaeda jointly attempted to assassinate the Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, in 2003. JUD's leader, Hafez Muhamed Sayeed, was accused of inciting riots in Pakistan earlier this year in response to the publication of the Danish cartoons of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

Although the evidence against Khan is overwhelming, the police have reportedly indicated that the power of groups such as JUD is too great for them to tackle. So far no investigation has taken place.

“The situation is exacerbated by issues of caste and poverty. It is in this context that such horrors can take place,” said Sookhdeo. “I am encouraged that the police did make some efforts in this case, but, as so often happens, they appear now to be intimidated themselves by the weight of the whole Islamist movement in Pakistan. I pray that the exposure of this slave trade to the international community will help bring an end to it.”

Jennifer Riley
Christian Today Correspondent

Pakistan Christians demand help

Christians in north-west Pakistan are demanding government protection following threats of bomb attacks if they do not become Muslims.

An unsigned letter received 10 days ago said they had to convert by Thursday.

Militants have been carrying out a sustained campaign to prevent "anti-Islamic" activities in North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

Last week they blew up a number of music and video shops in the towns of Charsadda and Tangi.

Living in fear

The Christian community, a tiny minority, received an anonymous letter demanding they convert or face the consequences.

The BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad says that while a few families have left, the rest live in fear.

Police say they have stepped up security at churches but Christians complain that not enough has been done to protect them.

"We are in great danger and need protection," said Michael John, the head of Pakistan's Catholic Church and a minority Christian parliamentarian.

The warning to Christians to leave Charsadda was delivered to his home.

'No response'

The town has recently been hit by violence - a suicide bomb attack in April killed at least 28 people at a rally in Charsadda. Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, who was at the rally, escaped with minor injuries.

About 500 Christian families are living there - most migrated from India before the creation of Pakistan.

"Only the few policemen who patrol there on the motorbike are watching the Christians, but no significant security is provided," said religious minorities spokesman Shabaz Bhati.

"We are very much in fear that due to the lack of security these extremists will find a way to attack our people easily."

Mr Bhati also asked government officials to publicly condemn the threats but says he has got no response.

Where Christianity faces a fight to survive
By Isambard Wilkinson, in Mingora
Independent, UK
Last Updated: 2:07am BST 28/04/2006

A recent convert from Christianity to Islam, Bashir Masi knew nothing of his new faith.

He could not describe a single tenet of Islam, nor remember the Qalma, the Muslim declaration of faith, nor name his own children, who have adopted Muslim names.

He, his wife Amna and their six children, converted to Islam 15 days ago. "We are happy now we are Muslim," said Mr Masi, 45. "It is a great religion."

The Masis's conversion is typical of the vulnerability of Christians in Pakistan, many of whom live under the threat of persecution, death and who have suffered waves of violence directed against them and their churches.

In February about 400 people attacked and burnt a church in the southern city of Sukkur after accusations that a local Christian had burned pages from the Koran.

After a similar allegation last November a Muslim mob wielding axes and sticks set fire to three churches, a dozen houses, three schools, a dispensary, a convent and two parsonages.

advertisementThe attacks were the worst on Pakistan's Christian community since 2002, when Muslim fanatics led an assault on a church with grenades on Christmas Day. Three young girls were killed in that attack, at Chianwala, 40 miles north of Lahore.

The Masis were "invited" to convert by the local Muslim town mayor, Nazim Sahib as they call him, who doubles as the owner of the basic compound they had shared with their extended family.

Since converting, the family, which comes from Pakistan's underclass of sweepers, has moved to a better house, been given a better sweeping job and been ostracised by other members of the 30-strong Christian community, including their family.

Their village is part of a sprawling suburb of Mingora in Swat in northern Pakistan, an area where an intolerant and doctrinaire interpretation of Islam is increasingly popular.

They moved there over three years ago from Sialkot in the Punjab in search of work.

Some 90 per cent of the 15 million Christians in Pakistan trace their ancestry to the "untouchable" Hindu Chuhra caste from Sialkot, where mass conversions began during the 19th century under British rule.

Mr Masi's ancestors probably converted to Christianity to improve their lot; now he is banking on another change of faith in the hope of transforming his family's fortunes.

However, Group Capt Cecil Chaudhry, Pakistan's self-appointed defender of the faith, contended that such conversions were not as innocent as depicted.

"It is more through fear that conversions have taken place. Our community is poor but it is not easy to break their faith," he said. "After all the recent attacks the community is living in fear."

Group Capt Chaudhry, twice decorated from Pakistan's wars against India, knows something of anti-Christian discrimination personally. He was passed over for promotion by the Islamist-favouring dictator General Zia-ul-Huq.

He now heads several organisations championing Christian rights and lobbies the government of President Pervez Musharraf to change legislation that is prejudiced against Christians.

He has reacted strongly against the leadership since the president buckled under pressure from Islamists and gave up plans to change the way in which a controversial blasphemy law was implemented to discriminate against Christians. "Musharraf has still some way to go - he talks but says nothing of substance," he said.

Group Capt Chaudhry has also battled, with partial success, to do away with an electoral system that separates Muslim and Christian voters and candidates that means that Christians are never properly represented in a constituency.

In Afghanistan earlier this year, a man faced the death penalty for converting to Christianity from Islam before international pressure led to him being freed.

In Pakistan, conversion is technically legal but those who do convert are dubbed "apostates" and often killed. Christian officials describe a large community of "secret Christians" made up of some government officials and prominent people who have converted to Christianity.

Pakistan Militants Force Christians To Convert To Islam And Shut Churches
Added: May 14th, 2007 6:12 AM
By BosNewsLife News Center

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife) -- Christians in northwest Pakistan on Sunday, May 13, worshiped amid heightened tensions after they received threatening letters warning them to shut their churches and convert to Islam within the next few days as anti-Christian violence spreads across Pakistan, officials confirmed to BosNewsLife.

Copies of handwritten letter with a May 17 ultimatum were reportedly delivered to two churches and several Christians' homes in Charsadda, a northwestern Pakistan town where the federal interior minister last month escaped a homicide attack that apparently killed 28 people.

"The ultimatum has further aggravated the sense of insecurity and fear among the Christians of Charsada," of Taliban style social structures imposed by militants, said Shahbaz Bhatti, the chairman of All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA), a major advocacy group here. Christians are "spending their day and night in fear and many are thinking to vacate the area due to threats and possible attacks," Bhatti told BosNewsLife.

Christians reportedly alerted local police to the letters and security was stepped up at churches, but it remained unclear whether this would prevent further violence.

"TRUSTING" GOD

However in published remarks, Christians of Charsadda said that although they fear for their lives "and are mindful that the militants can kill" they "trust God for protection and can not succumb to the demands of the Islamic militants."

Other recent examples of Islamic extremism are bombings of music stores -- including two reported blasts in Charsadda last week -- threats to barbers not to shave customers' beards and pressure for the closure of schools for girls.

Iqbal Khan, another local police official, told reporters that a small bomb tied to a motorcycle exploded in Charsadda late Wednesday, damaging several CD shops. He said authorities had yet to make any arrests over the bombings.

The Associated Press news agency quoted Asif Daudzai, minister for information in North West Frontier Province (NWFP), which includes Charsadda, as saying that authorities would uphold minorities' freedom of religion. "No one will be allowed to do it (force them to convert). Christians and other minorities are free to go to churches and temples and live according to their religion," Daudzai added.

CHRISTIANS "KILLED"

APMA investigators said however that the latest threats come at a time when "many Christians" have been incarcerated and "killed" in the region and across Pakistan. In addition believers often become target due to what AMPA and other groups describes as "the misuse of blasphemy laws" by what they call "extremist elements".

There have been several attacks on churches, Christian schools and other institutions in recent years. Analysts say the attacks increased since Pakistan became a key ally of Washington in its campaign against terror following the September 11, 2001, suicide hijackings on the United States and the invasion of Afghanistan.

In one of the more published incidents in 2002, five people were killed, two of them Americans, when suspected Islamic militants set off grenades at a church in Islamabad's heavily guarded diplomatic enclave.

Bhatti said that despite official comments, he fears the government is "unable to control" the rising "violent activities of militant organizations in Pakistan or provide protection" to its citizens.

EMBATTLED PRESIDENT

Already embattled President President Pervez Musharraf fights for his own political survival, appealing for calm after 34 people died in the country's worst political violence in years this weekend. Supporters of President Pervez Musharraf fought street battles with those of top judge Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, suspended by the president, who seeks a new term.

"Over the past years, the influence of religious extremist groups has increased in NWFP and other parts of Pakistan," said Bhatti. "Islamic militants are committing violence in the name of religion to impose their own radical and Taliban style concept of Islam by force," he claimed.

He said militants have been "taking law into their own hands, blowing themselves as suicidal bombers and policing society." Bhatti told BosNewsLife that APMA officials traveled to Charsadda to support Christians and said his group has urged believers in a statement "to pray for the government of Pakistan that God may provide them [with] wisdom and courage to make sincere efforts to control the situation and violence."

Christians and other minorities make up about 3 percent of Pakistan's overwhelmingly Muslim population of some 160 million, and about 500 Christians coexist peacefully with Muslims in Charsadda, according to estimates. (With BosNewsLife Chief International Correspondent Stefan J. Bos and reporting from Pakistan).

Copyright 2007 BosNewsLife. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without our prior written consent.

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

I could never fathom masochists!

 

[Spring Onion]

Plight of India’s Christians

Religious persecution and killings in the name of gods are not uncommon in “secular” India. Hardly a week passes when reports of attacks on minority communities, particularly in remote villages, make news in rural newspapers. Larger incidents get inside-page coverage in urban media. Many, many more incidents go unreported.

Since the right-wing Hindu BJP came to power in 1996, physical assaults on India’s minorities have increased. Extremists in the Sangh Parivar (united family) have openly espoused hatred for Muslims and Christians. This historical stance of Hindus had its origin in a similar enmity centuries ago which resulted in Nirvana-seeking Buddhists folding up their hearths and homes in India and leaving for Southeast Asia, where they live peacefully today. And it was this stance that caused the 1947 partition of the subcontinent and the creation of the separate sovereign state of Pakistan.

Periodically, there are fierce riots between India’s Hindus and Muslims. It is taken for granted that blood will be shed during Hindu or Muslim festivals. More recently, however, Christians have also become victims. Described by the Sangh Parivar as “soft targets,” Indian Christians, who constitute a very small minority in a population of almost a billion, and their places of worship have been physically attacked. As The Washington Post reported on July 3, “From petty harassment to premeditated murder, Christian clergy and activists, institutions and symbols are under new assault by militant Hindus across India.”

Reacting to a statement of the BJP ally Bajrang Dal that “Christians are bigger enemies than Muslims,” Indian Attorney General Soli Sorabjee remarked that people making such statements should be put in jail or sent to lunatic asylums.

In recent months attacks on Christian churches and seminaries have increased. Several bomb blasts were reported from states like Karanataka, Goa and Andhra Pradesh. Karanataka, where the BJP government is in power, has seen the highest incidence of such assaults. The government, however, has dismissed each attack as an isolated incident and not part of an organized campaign, thereby paving ground for further trouble.
Hindu society, it needs to be remembered, is built on a highly stratified caste system, with Brahmins on the top and a huge population of Dalits, scheduled castes and untouchables at the bottom. This social arrangement has been maintained for centuries, and it lives on today in democratic India.

Denying the system’s inequities and injustices, Hindus instead have accused Christians of “forced conversions.” The majority of Christian missionaries in India belong to the Catholic Church and take the vows of chastity and poverty. Christians of all denominations traditionally have maintained a very low profile, devoting themselves to worship and social work under most adverse and depressing circumstances. Nobel Prize winner Mother Teresa was perhaps the most famous example.

Prabinbhai Togadia, general secretary of the powerful Hindu organization the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), has ordered Christians in the state of Tripura to “stop conversions or face the ire of the VHP volunteers.”

It was Togadia who warned India’s Muslims that the 1992 demolition of the historic Babri mosque will be repeated when “construction of Ram Mandir [temple] at Ayodhya will [begin] next year,” in defiance of court orders. Trouble of major proportion can be expected if the government allows such a threat to be realized.

Prof. M.M. Ali, a specialist on South Asia, is a consultant and a senior fellow with the Center for Planning & Policy Studies based in the Washington, DC area.
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Saga of Kashmir Tragedy Continues, Plight of Indian Christians Worsens