Pakistan’s Christians Remain Targets Of Abuse

By C. J. Refsland on February 24, 2015 • ( 0 )

We have been reporting on Pakistan and it’s persecution of Christians for some time. We have watched with heavy hearts as Christians are raped, tortured, & killed in barbaric fashion and treated as sub-humans. The abuses continue despite their constitution stating that they condemn religious persecution. The government has refused to repeal the inhuman, uncivilized Blasphemy law. Asia Bibi is in prison awaiting her death sentence for being a Christian drinking from a Muslim well. Christians are singled out and made to feel inferior in every aspect of their lives. And World watch monitor has a recent report this month on the aftermath of a secular publication that printed satire of the Prophet Muhammed. This single act that was carried out by the secular world sparked an outrage and call to damage, destroy and even kill Christians. Christians who didn’t have anything to do with the publication.

(World Watch Monitor) The publication of Charlie Hebdo’s ‘memorial edition’, with its depiction of the Prophet Muhammad crying, sparked – in one or two countries – a violent backlash against Westerners in general and Christians in particular. It was notable in Niger, where 70 churches were destroyed, Algeria where police and protestors clashed, and in Pakistan. There, in Karachi, a march in the streets hit the international headlines. However, one incident which only emerged sometime after it happened took place in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of north-west Pakistan. On January 26th, in the city of Bannu, the Pennell High School and College for 1,800 students was working as normal, despite the fact that a protest march against Charlie Hebdo had been called by other school and college students.

Pennell Principal Fredrick Farhan Das told World Watch Monitor that hundreds of protestors, mostly students between the ages of 15 and 18, broke away from their march to storm into the school after climbing up and forcing the main gate open.

“The protestors first pelted the gate with stones and then climbed over the 14 foot high wall… Some of them were armed with knives and pistols; the young children were terrified that it was an attack like the one in the Army school in Peshawar where at least 132 students were massacred.”

Teacher Pervaiz Qazi added: “It was break time, around 11am. All the students were out of class, when those protesters entered …They created panic, started smashing windows, showing their weapons openly and raising anti-Christian slogans.”

Since the Peshawar attack, security around Pakistani schools has dramatically increased and schools have been ordered to take stringent security measures. Sources privy to the Punjab Education Department told WWM that military schools and Christian mission schools across the country are designated as A+ category – at the highest security risk of being targeted. (Read the full report)

Protestors in Pakistan over Charlie Hebdo Cartoon (Screen grab)

A BBC report on Pakistan as a country say’s that “Civilian politics in Pakistan in the last few decades has been tarnished by corruption, inefficiency and confrontations between various institutions. Alternating periods of civilian and military rule have not helped to entrench any stability.” And that is putting it mildly. Through our work with Pakistani Christians we hear their cries, and suffering. All religious outreach ministries there are targets. Christians who share the gospel and encourage young Christian converts are physically attacked and threatened with death if they do not cease. This is their country, their Country that they love, and to see such abuses as rape, torture and murder are heartbreaking for them. And then to watch the sub-human treatment of Christians, women, and other minorities is more than they can bear. Then came the school massacre that targeted an Army school of innocent children. And the entire world attention was drawn to that. As if that didn’t provide enough anguish, the violent protests of a cartoon came on it’s heels and Christian schools also became vulnerable to an already volatile situation.

Pakistan’s legal system is deeply flawed. The system has been described as: “It is really all about taking revenge, and that means making the other party suffer as much as possible by putting whole families through hell.” This is a quote from the story last year of a 9 month old baby arrested and charged with murder.

Screen shot

In fact they hauled the entire family into jail on a single complaint. The families lawyer in that case said it was not unusual for children under the age of 7 to be charged even with blasphemy. The baby was released after much outcry but this is just one example of the suffering of the weak & the minorities. And that doesn’t even touch the countries bonded labor program where whole families are drawn into slavery to pay off debts owed. Again, Pakistan is one of the top receivers of western aid. It’s hard to understand why the UNHRC doesn’t have more of a presence and influence in changing these barbaric, dark age practices.

And it has just surfaced today that Pakistan is demanding that all citizens register their fingerprints with the Government for their cell phones to be registered, or give up their phones. That’s right it will be illegal in Pakistan to own a cell phone if you don’t have your fingerprints registered. They say people are so afraid of terrorism using cell phones that most are welcoming this. This will come here it’s just a matter of time. (More)

Commentary by C. Refsland