Aid to the Church in Need: Pakistan: Christians burned alive

Pakistan: Christians burned alive

Posted by Press Release on 4/8/2009, 11:37 am
Board Administrator

ACN News: Tuesday, 4th August 2009 –

PAKISTAN

Christians burned alive
• Eight people – including two children – killed in anti-Christian attacks
• Bishop of Faisalabad describes the people’s “anger” at police inaction

By John Pontifex

A BISHOP in Pakistan has spoken of his people’s anger and grief after eight people – including two children – were burned alive in one of the bloodiest attacks against Christians in the country’s history.
The victims, who included nine-year-old Umia Alnaf, her mother Asifa, and Mausa Masih, 10, died on Saturday (1st August) when nearly 3,000 people rampaged through the Christian quarter of Gojra city in the Punjab Province, 30 miles from Faisalabad.
More than 20 people were injured in the attacks in which the mob, carrying sticks, clubs and a small number of firearms, set fire to property including more than 50 homes and two churches.
The attacks came two days after a related incident in the nearby village of Korian where gangs set fire to more than 70 Christian homes and two small churches.
Speaking from Pakistan in an interview with Aid to the Church in Need, the Catholic charity for persecuted and other suffering Christians, Bishop Joseph Coutts of Faisalabad said: “There is a lot of anger among the people about what has happened.
“Emotions are running extremely high. People could respond in any way. This is undoubtedly one of the worst attacks we have faced.”
The bishop, who on Sunday, 2nd August presided at the funerals of those who died in the Gojra violence, stressed the failure of the authorities to tackle the causes of the violence and criticised the police for not acting quickly.
Describing the police response to the well publicised threats against Gojra as “half-hearted and ineffective”, Bishop Coutts underlined the number of recent attacks against Christians and said the threat to their safety was being ignored.
“In all these cases, the police did almost nothing to stop the rampaging mobs. Condolences, apologies and assurances [always] pour in from officials and other citizens after the event, but the timely action required to prevent such incidents has always been missing.”
The bishop went on to allege that behind the attacks was a banned militant religious group wanting to carry out “a sort of religious cleansing” to turn Pakistan into an Islamic theocratic state where non-Muslims were told to convert or leave.

Bishop Joseph Coutts of Faisalabad

Bishop Coutts, who was speaking a few minutes before a meeting with a high-ranking government regional official said that, while looting and arson were all too common, this was the first time in recent memory that Christians had been killed in an act of religious hatred.
Among the dead were Asia Victar, 22, and her mother, Eerueen, Ikhlaf Hameed, and two men in their early to mid 70s, Haneed Khan and Mr Sharif.
A ninth person, a man aged 25, from Faisalabad, was killed in an accident bringing food aid to the victims in Gojra.
The attacks were sparked by Muslim outrage at reports that children had cut up pages from an old school book to use as wedding confetti. Little did they realise that the pages contained verses from the Qu‘ran.
Christian leaders in Korian, the village very close to Gojra, where the wedding took place, moved quickly to quell Muslim unrest.
But four days later, on Thursday (30th July), a large mob descended on Korian and demanded that Taalib Masih, the father of the children who cut up the school book, be hanged for an act of blasphemy against Islam.
The Christians of Korian were forewarned of the attack and escaped before the aggressors arrived.
The mob looted up to 80 Christian houses in the village and ransacked two small Protestant churches.
With more rumours of Christians desecrating the Qu‘ran, the mob turned their fire on Christian Town in Gojra city.
Bishop Coutts has repeatedly called for the repeal of Pakistan’s so-called Blasphemy Laws, in which perpetrators or crimes of disrespect towards the Qu‘ran and the Prophet Mohammed are liable to sentences of life imprisonment or the death penalty in a system of summary justice.
The bishop went on to highlight the many messages of condolences received from Muslim leaders and stressed the continuing need to work towards inter-religious cooperation.

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 130 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, 46.5 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.

For more information, please contact the Australian 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

This message is locked.

Responses are not allowed!

Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148 ABN: 62 418 911 594
Ph/Fax (02) 9679-1929 e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org web: www.aidtochurch.org