Aid to the Church in Need: Pakistan: Cathedral saved from bomb blast

Pakistan: Cathedral saved from bomb blast

Posted by Press release on 28/1/2009, 7:25 am
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ACN News: Wednesday, 28th January 2009 – PAKISTAN

Cathedral saved from bomb blast
• Six people arrested in connection with Christmas attack on cathedral
• Priest and people told to convert or “face the consequences”
• Dismay at police inaction after attack forces all Christians to flee village

By John Pontifex

THOUSANDS of Pakistani Christians narrowly escaped with their lives after a plot to blow up Lahore’s Catholic Cathedral on Christmas Day went wrong with just hours to spare.
But the safety of Sacred Heart Cathedral parish priest Fr Andrew Nisari remains uncertain after he received anonymous threats from Muslim extremists who wrote him a letter demanding that he and his congregation convert to Islam or “face the consequences”.

(Interior of Lahore Sacred Heart Cathedral)

In a separate development, clergy have expressed growing frustration at reports of continued police inaction following attacks on a village in Lahore diocese which forced almost all the Christians living there to flee for their lives.
Almost two weeks later and with no reports of any arrests taking place, the 100 or more Christians from Kot Lakha Singh village are apparently too afraid to go home. Only six Christian men have stayed behind.
Speaking from Lahore in an interview with Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, Fr Nisari said that six people had now been arrested in connection with the attempted Christmas Day attack on the cathedral after being found with maps and other incriminating evidence.
He said that, on Christmas Eve, a car containing explosives, apparently intended for the cathedral, had gone off – purportedly by mistake – in a roadside about three miles from Lahore. A passer-by was killed who was later identified as a Catholic.
According to Fr Nisari, the six who were arrested have since admitted to intending to detonate the cathedral in the middle of a packed Christmas Day service.
He said: “We are surrounded by threats all the time but thank God so far we have been saved. I preach to the people that they have to be prepared for death. Many of us will die in our beds or in hospital but how wonderful it would be if we died in the house of God.”
Fr Nisari stressed that cathedral Mass-goers refused to be deterred by the threats against them and that it was standing-room only at the services last Christmas with some forced to stand outside.
The priest went on to express dismay at the police’s failure to press charges following the 14th January attacks in Kot Lakha Singh in which fanatics tortured people – including woman and children – at the home of a Christian named William.
The mob then broke into other homes, stealing money and other valuables before vandalising the local Catholic church, tearing liturgical books and Bibles.
Fr Nisari, who was speaking after carrying out a fact-finding mission to the village, in Narowal district, criticised local security chiefs for encouraging reconciliation initiatives without taking action to bring the culprits to justice.
Stressing that the atrocities contravened Pakistan’s infamous 295 Blasphemy Law concerning items of religious significance – especially religious texts – Fr Nisari said the Christians had been forced out after being banned from village shops, using public roads and became terrified after Islamic leaders called a meeting of all Muslims.
He said: “As a minority group, we Christians are not taken seriously in this country. We just feel helpless. It seems that regardless of justice, Muslims here will always side with people who are the same religion as them. It is very unfair.”
The attacks were sparked by a land dispute between a Muslim and a Christian. It also relates to another incident involving a Muslim woman who left her Muslim husband for a Christian man.

(Fr Andrew Nisari)

But Fr Nisari said that far from being intimidated, the Christians were becoming stronger in their faith and that for example at the clergy’s suggestion, Lahore cathedral parishioners were now each inviting another non-Mass-going family to join them for services.
He said: “Our people are very brave. As the Church is persecuted, people become more conscious of their Faith.”
“We need your prayers,” he added. “We ask you to pray earnestly so that we might overcome all these threats and that God might save us.”
The cathedral, of Roman Byzantine style and with a steeple of 167 feet, had its centenary in November 2007.
Barely four months later, the building was damaged by a bomb which went off in a nearby security intelligence building. Two people died and more than 100 children from the nearby primary school were injured.

Editor’s Notes:

Directly under the Holy See, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity – helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.

Founded in 1947 by Fr Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named “An Outstanding Apostle of Charity”, the organisation is now at work in about 145 countries throughout the world.
The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, 45 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.

For more information, please contact the Sydney office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web: www.aidtochurch.org

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