Muslim Mob Attacks Christians in Gujrat, Pakistan

SARGODHA, Pakistan  — A mob of Muslim extremists on Thursday (Sept. 23) shot at and beat dozens of Christians, including one cleared of "blasphemy" charges, in Punjab Province's Gujrat district, Christian leaders said.

The attack on Tariq Gill, exonerated of charges of blaspheming the Quran on Sept. 3, 2009, and on his father Murad Gill, his mother and the other Christian residents was the latest of more than 10 such assaults on the Christian colony of Mohalla Kalupura, Gujrat city, since Sept. 8, the Rev. Suleman Nasri Khan and Bishop Shamas Pervaiz told Compass. 

About 40 Islamists - some shooting Kalashnikovs and pistols at homes and individuals on the street, others brandishing axes and clubs - beat some of the Christians so badly that they left them for dead, Pastor Khan said. So far, 10 families have been targeted for the attacks.

On Thursday (Sept. 23) the assailants ripped the clothing off of Gill's mother and dragged her nude through the streets, Pastor Khan said. 

Among the Christians attacked on Thursday (Sept. 23) were Rashid Masih and his family, he said. The critically injured Masih and his family members, Gill and his parents, and the other injured Christians were initially rushed to Aziz Bhatti hospital in Gujrat, Pastor Khan said, and then transferred to Abdullah Hospital in nearby Lalla Musa to receive more advanced care.

"The injured Christians were under the observation of able doctors at Abdullah Hospital in Lalla Musa," Pastor Khan told Compass by telephone. 

Bishop Pervaiz, central vice chairman of the Pakistan Interfaith Peace Council, said the mob was led by two members of the National Assembly, Meer Anjum and Farasat Dar, at the behest of a powerful member of the Punjab Assembly named Sheikh Islam. The three Muslim politicians were not immediately available for comment, but the Gujrat superintendent of police investigations, identified only as Hafeez, told Christian leaders they were respectable legislators who were innocent. 

Also asserting that the three Muslim politicians were behind the violence, Pastor Khan said the assailants have vowed to mount an attack on Mohalla Kalupura similar to the Islamist assault on Gojra in 2009. On Aug. 1, 2009, an Islamic mob acting on a false rumor of blaspheming the Quran and whipped into frenzy by local imams attacked the Christian colony in Gojra, burning at least seven Christians to death, injuring 19 others, looting more than 100 houses and setting fire to 50 of them. The dead included women and children. 

Bishop Pervaiz said the attackers in Gujrat have threatened to kill him, Pastor Khan and Bishop Yashua John and continue to roam the streets of Mohalla Kalupura looking for Christian residents to kill. 

The Lorry Adda police station house officer (SHO), inspector Riaz Qaddar, has stated publicly that "no stone would be left unturned" to apprehend the gunmen, but the Christian leaders said he has refused to act. 

"The SHO flatly denied indicting the Muslim mob and especially the Muslim legislators," said Pastor Khan, chairman of Power of God's Healing Ministry International Pakistan and national coordinator of Jesus' Victory Gospel Assembly of Pakistan. 

Bishop Pervaiz said that besides the Christian accused of blasphemy, the attacks also may have been sparked by the election victory last year of an area Christian - who was slain a few days after taking office. Yaqoob Masih won the Tehsil Municipal Authority Gujrat election by a landslide, and a few days after he took office on Dec. 15, 2009, Muslim candidates running for the same office killed him, Bishop Pervaiz said.

He added that Lorry Adda police did not register a murder case at that time.  

In the blasphemy case, Tariq Gill was falsely charged on Aug. 15, 2009 under Section 295-B of Pakistan's blasphemy laws for desecrating the Quran, but due to the intervention of Christian leaders, influential Muslim elders and police, he was exonerated of all allegations on Sept. 3, 2009, said Bishop Pervaiz, who is also chairman of the Council of Bishops and head of the National Churches in Pakistan.

"Muslim legislators Meer Anjum, Sheikh Islam and Farasat Dar had resentment against Murad Gill's family over this blasphemy row as well," said Bishop Pervaiz, "and now through these assaults, which are becoming more frequent and massive, emboldened Muslims have found a way to vent their fury."

The Christian leaders said they approached District Police Officer Afzaal Kausar about the attacks, and he sent the application for charges to Hafeez, the superintendent of police investigation in Gujrat.

"But he did not bother to watch the video we shot of the attack and shrugged off the matter," Pastor Khan said. 

He said that Hafeez told them that Anjum, Dar and Islam were respectable legislators, "and without any investigation declared them innocent." 

This afternoon Pastor Khan led a protest at the Islamabad National Press Club. He said more than 250 Christian protestors reached Islamabad despite an attempt by Inspector Qaddar of Lorry Adda police station to arrest them before they left the area. 

"But the invisible hand of Almighty God helped us, and we safely made it to Islamabad," Pastor Khan said. "Although the government has clamped a ban on all sorts of processions and demonstrations, we successfully staged the sit-in before National Press Club Islamabad." 
 
Saying he regretted that the demonstration had drawn little attention, he added that the protestors would remain in front of the building tonight demanding justice. The pastor said tomorrow (Sept. 28) they would protest in front of the Islamabad Parliament House.

Muslim extremist groups had threatened church for two years.

SUKKUR, Pakistan, July 29 — A dozen masked men shot five Christians to death as they came out of their church building here on July 15, two months after a banned Islamic extremist group sent church leaders a threatening letter, relatives said. 

 

Pastor Aaron John and church members Rohail Bhatti, Salman John, Abid Gill and Shamin Mall of Full Gospel Church were leaving the church building after meeting to discuss security in light of the threats they had received, said the pastor’s son, Shahid John.

“As we came out of the church, a group of a dozen armed gunmen came and opened fire at us,” said Shahid John, who survived a bullet in his arm. “Fear struck the area. The police arrived 45 minutes after the incident, and we waited for over 45 minutes for the ambulance to arrive.”

Besides Shahid John, five others were wounded in the attack.

In May church leaders received a letter from Islamic extremist group Sip-e-Sahaba (formerly Sipah-e-Sahaba until it was banned) warning the Christians to leave the area, said Kiran Rohail, wife of the slain Rohail Bhatti.

“It said to vacate the land, Christians are not welcomed here, they are polluting our land,” Kiran Rohail said. 

The Sip-e-Sahaba and Sunni Tehrik extremist groups are both linked with an area madrassa (Islamic school) whose students had been threatening the church since 2008, Christian sources said. 

“In 2008 a group of Muslim students started making threats for the church to vacate the land, as there are only 55 Christian families living in the area,” said the pastor’s widow, Naila John, who also lost her son Salman John in the attack. 

The masked gunmen of July 15 had young physiques like those of students, Christian sources said, and their manner of attack indicated they were trained extremists. 

The madrassa students that have threatened the church since 2008 belong to the Sunni Tehrik extremist group, the sources said. 

Pastor John and Bhatti had reported the threats of the past two years to police, but officers at the local station did not take them seriously, said Naila John.

When they received the threatening letter in May, Pastor John, his son Salman, Bhatti, Gill, Mall and another member of the church, Arif Gill, went to the police station to register a First Information Report (FIR), according to Shahid John. 

"Police just took the application but didn’t register the FIR,” he said. “The station house officer just provided two police constables for security.”

 On the evening of July 15, the pastor called a meeting to discuss needed security measures, his widow Naila John said. The meeting ended around 7:30 p.m., when they left the building and were sprayed with gunfire. 

“No FIR has been registered due to the pressure from the local Islamic groups,” said Kiran Rohail, referring to Sunni Tehrik, Sip-e-Sahaba and the local mosque. “The police came and took our statements, but they didn’t show up again.”

An independent government source confirmed the shooting deaths of the Christians, adding that local Islamist pressure had prevented media from reporting on it. 

The church began in 1988, and Pastor John had been leading it since 2001.

Sukkur, in southwest Pakistan’s Sindh Province, has been the site of previous violence against Christians. Last June or July, area Christians said, students from the local madrassa beat Pastor Adnan John of Multan, severely injuring him, after they saw him walking in front of the mosque wearing a cross and holding a Bible. In another instance, the Muslim students prevented Christian students from holding a Christmas program at a park.

In 2006, some 500 Muslims burned down two churches in Sukkur and a convent school on Feb. 19, reportedly over rumors that a Christian threw a copy of the Quran into a trash can. A crowd wielding gasoline bombs torched St. Mary’s Catholic Church and St. Savior’s Church of Pakistan after media and government sources floated the rumor, but local sources said the violence occurred after a Muslim was arrested for burning pages of the Quran and trying to frame his Christian father-in-law, Saleem Gill, with the deed. 

After torching the inside of St. Savior’s, the mob turned on Pastor Ilyas Saeed Masih’s home, then went five minutes away to destroy the 120-year-old St. Mary’s edifice

Clashes in Faisalabad as ‘blasphemers’ shot dead

FAISALABAD: Muslims and Christians clashed for hours in Warispura and Dawoodnagar neighbourhoods of Faisalabad following the killing of two Christian brothers accused of blasphemy outside the district courts on Monday.

Pastor Rashid Emmanuel and his brother Sajid Emmanuel were shot dead by an unidentified person on Monday as they left the court of Magistrate Tariq Habib accompanied by inspector Muhammad Hussain who was critically injured.

“Both brothers were rushed to hospital where they were pronounced dead,” said police official Amanullah Khan.

Doctor Rana Bashir of the Allied Hospital confirmed the deaths and said the wounded police officer was undergoing a surgery.

On July 2, people accusing the two brothers of distributing pamphlets containing blasphemous material at the general bus stand and took them to the Civil Lines police station, where an FIR was filed against them. They were taken into custody.

The brothers’ supporters, however, claim that the charges were fabricated. James Aftab, a senior church official in Faisalabad, said the men had been “implicated in a fake case” while Atif Jamil Pagaan, a spokesperson for the Pakistan Minorities Democratic Foundation, also said the men had been set up.

“The charges levelled against them were false as no evidence has been brought and no witness presented,” he said, adding that the pamphlets were handwritten and photocopied, and anonymously distributed with the brothers’ contact details.

Following the killings, rumours spread that angry Christians have set two houses belonging to Muslims on fire. This was also announced from mosques and as a result at around 6:30 pm groups of men from around Faisalabad started gathering in Warispura and Dawoodnagar, predominantly Christian neighbourhoods, and the latter the home of the slain brothers. Warispura also has a big church, called the Main Church of Warispura. However, the police, anticipating rioting, had already surrounded the neighbourhoods and tried to disperse the crowd by baton charging and teargas shelling. Around seven to eight groups of 100 to 150 people had gathered in the area.

Meanwhile, Christians and Muslims attacked each other with stones and five people, including two policemen, were injured.

In a bid to bring the situation under control, Commissioner Faisalabad Tahir Hussain, and RPO Faisalabad Aftab Cheema, held a meeting with members of Christian and Muslim organisations. The meeting, initially held indoors, was later carried out on the road in full view of the demonstrators, following which the delegations tried to dispel rumours that houses had been burnt and urged people to leave the area.

Former MNA from the area, Mian Abdul Manan, also tried to calm the rioters. Around 11:30 pm, rioters started leaving though police and city officials remained in the area.

To ensure peace over the next few days, Section 144 has been imposed in the district by the DCO which makes gatherings of more than four persons illegal. Religious leaders from both sides have also agreed not to indulge in hate speeches or taking the law into their hands.

Meanwhile, SSP Investigations Faisalabad Rana Ahsan and DSP Civil Lines Ashiq Hussain have been suspended for negligence by IG Punjab.

Till the filing of the report, FIR against the killer had not been filed. According to sources, the police deliberately delayed filing the report so that the post mortem would be deferred till morning by which time the situation might be calmer.

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12 Years young girl killed by Muslim Lawyer .

Lahore: January 23, 2010. The family members and Christian rights activists are protesting in front of Punjab Assembly building in Lahore demanding arrest of Mohammad Naeem, Advocate, who tortured, rape and killed Christian

The Christian teenage Shazia daughter of Bashir Masih aged 12 years, resident of Islamia Park, Punch Road Aria Nagar, Samanabad, Lahore was found dead after rape by Muslim attorney Mohammad Naeem here today.

Shazia was working as a Domestic Worker in bungalow number AA 444 Defense Lahore with Muhammad Naeem Lawyer of Lahore High Court Lahore. He never paid a single penny to Shazia from last 8 months. On 21st of January 2010. Shazia’s Mother received a dead body of her younger girl 12 year and was shocked then she called some people from her neighbor and they contact Mr. Khalid Shahzad, General Secretary, Forum of Minorities.

According to our investigation, Shazia was rapped and torture by the Muhammad Naeem Lawyer Lahore High Court Lahore. He tried to hide this case and also pressurize to her father and media that I am a lawyer and will see who will highlight this issue because the court and the lawyer community is with me.

Last night he came with his relative in Pakistan Army to sort out deal with parents of deceased but when they come to know that the deal will be not successful then a Brigadier of the Pakistan Army who came to rescue Mohammad Naeem left away. The impression was given to poor parents of Shazia that elite class and the Muslim influencial people don’t care about the law and order and they can use the law as they want.

Victim Shazia was only source of income of her family because while her two elder sisters has been married and she was only the hope of her young brother Sunny aged 8 years.

The mother of victim Shazia and father told Forum of Minorities leaders that “Lawyer Mohammad Naeem offered them Rs. 20000 deal to keep this issue under ground”

Culprit Mohammad Naeem also threatened to victims family that “if they shout no body will listen and they will never get any thing”

The defence Police were also not interested to registered FIR against Mohammad Naeem.

Till update on this news by PCP, the family members of deceased Shazia are protesting in front of Punjab Abbembly

building and demanding arrest of Mohammad Naeem Advocate and other Muslim culprits who are not arrested

by Punjab police.

Please pray for many Christians Girls who are working in rich Muslims people' s houses and they use them for sex . If

they do not agree then they beat and blamed of steal jewels and money from their houses . Please we are running

sewing centers for skills and development of women in Pakistan.

we want to start more sewing and Computer Centers for non educated Christians girls. share hands with us and send

your donation and love to us .

Account Title : Edward Qaser

Account No : 0172-79002386-11

Bank Name : Habib Bank Ltd

Address of Bank : Main Market Gulberg Branch Lahore.

Swift Code : HABBPKKA

Address of Account Holder : H # 09 St 01 D-2 Barkat Jalal Colony Youhanabad ,Lahore, Pakistan.

Jhethe Key Village Incident

Sialkot: September 11, 2009. Violence erupted in Sialkot district after Gojra incident when Muslim mob set on fire Church in village Jhethe Key on accusations of desecration of Holy Quran here today.

Jhethe Key village is in sub-district Sambarial of Sialkot where Christian and Muslim are living in harmony over a century but today Muslim of same village took out weapons and sticks and attacked on Christians after Muslim cleric made announcement from mosque to kill Christians and burnt their homes. That morning one teen age Muslim girl complained to her family that part of Holy Quran fell down in drain when a Christian boy pushed her in street. Without any confirmation, Muslim family members of girl started shouting on Christians and Muslim cleric also approached and issued decree that Christians must be punished to death. The Muslim cleric announced from mosque loudspeaker to gather all Muslims from where procession marched to the homes of Christians. On their way they put Village Church administered by Church of Pakistan on fire. Meanwhile Christians fled from village to safe their lives and called for police help. The heavy contingent of police have encircled village and no one is allowed to enter in village. It is feared that situation in village is worst than Gojra when Muslims burnt 7 Christians alive on blasphemy accusations. When our correspondent from Sialkot reached to witness situation, he was not allowed by police to meet any Christian.

Persecution on Pakistani Christian

May the Lord Jesus Christ shower upon you Blessings and peace.

I want to request you that we need your prayers, help for victims of Gojra. I want to share with you that on Evening of 30^th July 2009 at 7:30 PM, Muslim community of Gojra get to gather and attack on the small Christians community of the small village Chack no 362 Korean, Gojra, They burnt many houses and it was very terrible situation for them. Then second attack by the Muslim was on the 1^st August 2009 at 2:30 PM on the Christian colony Gojra. In this Colony they also burnt all houses and Rob all the things of the poor Christian people.

The lam blame of the Muslims that Christian community has burnt the papers of Holy Quran among the marriage ceremony. They have blasphemy against Holy Quran. It was false propaganda against Christians. Then Muslim community calls the near town people and requests them that come together in the name of Allah and Holy Mohammad and destroy Christian community and their houses. They made plan to demolish the churches and burned the houses of the Christians community. They made announcement that all Christians may come out from their houses and save yourself otherwise we will kill you and burnt you with your houses as well. So poor people left their houses as soon as and then Muslims people rob the costly things from their houses and then took all the pet animals and then they burnt houses. In this situation the 9 people were killed. There were burnt 2 small kids namely Umia d/o Mr. Almas Masih age 8 years old, Mousa s/o Almas Masih age 10 years, two young women namely Asifan and Asiaya were burnt in house. Then one old woman namely Pervain w/o Victor Masih was burnt in the personal room, they just put the fir and close the door. Then three old men Hameed Masih (he was shouted by fire), Sharif Masih (and Raiz Masih. One young man was burnt namely Ikhlas s/o Hameed Masih. In the terrible incident 19 people were injured badly. In the village ch. 362, more then 70 houses were burnt totally and in the Christian colony more then 85 houses were burnt totally.

The government is also helpless front of furious procession of extremists. The police are also helpless and our poor community is under the sun and praying.We need your prayers help.

Hope for well understands and prompt response. Yours Truly,

Pastor.Edward qaser

www.egmpk.com

www.swatreliefproject.blogspot.com

www.evangelisminpakistan.blogspot.com

Evangelistic Gospel Ministries of Pakistan ®

E-mail: pegm1994@hotmail.com