Pakistan: Christians Flee After Muslims Destroy Village

From UCANEWS.com

Smoke was still rising from the Christian village of Korian in Punjab province on July 31 after it was completely destroyed in a violent raid the previous night by thousands of Muslims.

A Christian house set ablaze by Muslims

Korian was home to about 100 Christian families, most of them laborers, who all fled the area in the wake of the attack. No one died in the incident.

The village in Faisalabad diocese was attacked after Muslims accused a family there of blasphemy. In all, 60 houses and two churches belonging to the Church of Pakistan and the New Apostolic Church were destroyed and livestock stolen.

"They have left nothing. My horse, my only source of income, has also been taken," said Shubaan Masih, a local Christian.

The mob also blockaded the road leading to the village for several hours refusing entry to police or firefighters.

Masih said the mob was armed with firearms and explosives. "They used trucks to break the walls and petrol to start the fires," he said. "We saved our lives only by hiding in the fields until three in the morning, when relatives arrived with vehicles to collect us. The children cried all night," Masih said.

Tension between the Christian and Muslim communities in the area arose after pages containing Islamic inscriptions were found in front of a Christian home on July 26 following a wedding.

A group of Muslims then interrogated those who attended the wedding party, and accused the family of desecrating the Qur'an. The family says it has no knowledge of the offence but nevertheless apologized on July 30, saying that children who did not know what they were doing could have been responsible.

Muslims from surrounding villages gathered that evening at the local mosques before the mood turned ugly, Atif Jamil Pagaan, spokesperson of a Christian NGO told UCA News.

Local Muslims have filed charges against the family according to the country's blasphemy laws. They are accusing the family of blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad, which carries a mandatory death sentence in Pakistan. They also accuse the family of blasphemy against the Qur'an, which is punishable with life imprisonment.

A Christian home in ruins

Christian politicians and Catholic priests have condemned the incident and demanded investigations of the assault. A group of seven Catholic priests went to visit the site.

"One cannot but weep upon seeing the trail of destruction left behind," said Father Aftab James Paul, director of Faisalabad diocese's Commission for Interfaith Dialogue.

"It is yet another example of a feud being given a religious color. We shall visit the police station and demand the arrest of the instigators of this terrorism," he said.

According to media reports, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif also strongly condemned the incident and expressed his sorrow over the destruction of homes and loss of livestock.

Reports said that Sharif has directed authorities to secure the area and control the situation.

Pakistani Authorities Refuse to Intervene in Abduction and Forced Conversion of Christian Girls, 10 and 13

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) today urged the Pakistani Government to take action to ensure the return of two abducted Christian children to their family.

Anila and Saba Masih, aged 10 and 13 respectively, were abducted in southern Punjab, Pakistan on 26 June, while on the way to visit their uncle. They are subsequently reported to have been forced to convert to Islam, and Saba was married off to one of the abductors.

Yesterday, following an appeal by the girls’ father, Younis Masih, a Lahore High Court judge in Multan overturned an earlier ruling by the Muzaffargarh Sessions Court that had granted custody of the children to their kidnappers. The girls will now be placed temporarily in a government-run women’s shelter, after the judge said he did not believe they had converted by choice. However, the court has forbidden them to see either their parents, or their Muslim abductors.

The children are from the predominantly Muslim village of Chak 552/TDA, where 14 Christian families live alongside 158 Muslim ones. According to the Catholic Church’s National Commission on Justice and Peace (NCJP), Saba and Anila were abducted by three men from Chowk Munda, a small town in Tehsil Kot Aadoo, Muzaffargarh district. Local police reportedly refused to take any action, despite pleas for assistance from the girls’ parents and the local Christian community.

Both the NCJP and the Pakistan Catholic Women’s Organisation have appealed to the Chief Minister of Punjab for the children to be returned to their family. The NCJP alleges that the local Member of the Provincial Assembly, Mr Ehsan ul-Haq, is protecting the culprits, and the kidnappers have threatened the family with death if they persist in complaining.

CSW’s National Director Stuart Windsor said: “This is a tragic case and it is essential that the authorities intervene to secure the release of these two children and their safe return to their family. Their abduction, the local authorities’ lack of action, and an increase in similar abductions and forced conversions in recent months is creating a climate of terror and a culture of impunity which must be challenged. We call on the international community to raise this case with the Government of Pakistan as a matter of urgency.