65 Christians injured at Kalar Kahar, Pakistan Rawalpindi, Pakistan: December 26, 2009, (PCTV Newsdesk)

Today Mr Xavier William and Mr. Mehboob Alam arranged a press conference at a Community Hall, near Sir Syed Chowk.Mr. Xavier started by narrating the incident that took place on the 24th December 2009, at Kalar Kahar near the motorway. Kalar Kahar is around 125 Km from Islamabad.

On 25th June 2009, the Government of Pakistan alloted a piece of land to the Christian Community for building a Church next to the Motorway at Kalar Kahar. The transfer letter and the allotment letter were given to the local Pastor, Pastor Naveed John. The Pastor raised some money for the boundary wall, but could`nt raise enough money to start the construction of the Church. They collected some donations from different organizations and gathered enough funds to start the construction.

On 4th December 2009, the Church committee laid the foundation to start the construction. On the morning of 6th December some Muslim religious fundamentalists came and stopped the workers and threatened them of dire consequences.Pastor Naveed John came to the scene and told them that he has the property papers, so they cant stop the construction. 2 days latter a larger group of the Islamic fundamentalists came and threatened the workers. The Church Committee contacted the local police for assistance and filed a complaint, they sent 5 armed policemen. They stood at the site of construction, after a few days the same thing happened,but the police was unable to stop them.

The Pastor Naveed sent a complaint to the DCO, but he didnt respond. On the eve on 24th December 2009 the people were gathered at the Church site for worship, a mob of the extremists attacked the worshipers and injured around 65 Women and Children.The young men tried to protect the women and Children, but couldnt stop them as they were armed.

The Pastor Naveed John called the DCO, but he didn't respond and the local police refused to file a FIR.

Mr. Xavier strongly condemned the attack and immediately demanded FIR of the incident, he asked the Chief Minister to order the arrest of the culprits and provide protection to the Christians. Mr. Xavier said if the FIR is not registered in next 24 hours, they will launch a Country wide protest and will go the PM and the President, he said we have to avoid another Gojra incident. He said yesterday was Quaid-e-Azam`s birthday and everyone said that we should work for the Pakistan of Quaid-e-Azam, Quaid-a-Azam talked about the equal rights of the Minorities, but the minorities in Pakistan dont have the equal rights.

Mr. Mehboob Alam said that the violence against the Christians in Punjab is growing, the Punjab Government should wake up and take action to protect the life and property of the Christians. He said that we are disappointed at the media for not covering the violence against the Christians. He said that the Christians must  join hands and come on the roads against the violence. It is the time to speak now and ask for your rights.

Pastor Naveed John requested everyone to remember this incident in their prayers, in the end thanked everyone who was present to come and join them in their time of despair despite a holiday.

Burnt School In Murree.

On 3rd November 2009, I being a resident of Murree and parishioner of the Local Church went on the spot (St. Denys’ High School for Girls) after half an hour of the fire. Fire took place at 04:45 PM whereas the Rescue was called at 4:50 PM and they reached at 4:55PM. When I along with my few Media friends reached there. The School Administration was unable to provide any solid reason for this fire. I was surprised that the husband of School Principal Mr. Suleman Barket shouted and pushed us asking us to go away and not to cover, School workers like peon and watchmen were also doing the same.

The important thing is this that all the workers of this boarding high school for girls are Muslims and few years back they threatened the then Principal and her family by burning Quranic pages in front of her resident. It’s also on record that these workers forefathers remained with Administration in legal litigation and kept possession at the some area of the School, even School won case from Supreme Court but the grip of these workers on School and its area are still very firm.

Pakistan Police Torture Christians Arrested in Islamic Attack

Two brothers jailed after protecting 300 people from Islamist fire assault in Gojra.

LAHORE, Pakistan, October 23 (CDN) — Two Christians in Gojra, Pakistan who allegedly fired warning shots as an Islamist mob approached that burned seven Christians to death on Aug. 1 told Compass they were tortured after police arrested them.

Only one of hundreds of Muslim assailants in the fire assault on Gojra’s Christian Town is in jail, but sources said Islamists have provided police a pretense for arresting the two Christian brothers who gave shelter to 300 people. Naveed Masih, 32, alias Fauji (“the Soldier”) and his 25-year-old brother Nauman Masih were arrested on Sept. 2 and Sept. 7 respectively for “rioting with deadly weapons and spreading terror with firing.”

Naveed Masih is said to have fired warning shots from a rooftop into the air and at the feet of the mob of approaching Muslim assailants to try to disperse them, but both brothers deny using any weapons.

From his jail cell, Naveed Masih told Compass that he and his brother were taken to the Police Training Centre in Choong, where they were kept in illegal detention for 18 days and were tortured “in so many ways ruthlessly and in inhumane ways.”

“Sometimes we were not given anything to eat or drink except one time, and sometimes we were hung in a dark well while our faces were covered with a cloth,” Naveed Masih said. “They beat me with cane sticks on the back of my hands and sometimes hung me upside down and then brutally beat me.”  

Police kept them hungry for days, he said; when they asked for food, officers told them to confess that they had fired, he added. Naveed Masih said police tortured them to try to force them to say they had links with terrorist organizations that provided arms and ammunition to them.  

Naveed Maish said they were forbidden to sleep; they were awoken whenever they dozed off. Throughout the 18 days of torture, he said, the two brothers were kept separate but saw each other when they were taken to court.

“We hugged each other and wept, seeing each other’s wounds,” he said.

Naveed Masih said police tortured them because they had given shelter to more than 300 women, children and elderly people on the day of attack, in which the assailants – acting on an unsubstantiated rumor of “blasphemy” of the Quran and whipped into a frenzy by local imams and banned terrorist groups – also looted more than 100 houses and set fire to 50 of them. At least 19 people were injured in the melee.

In spite of the targeting of the Christian area in Gojra by hundreds of Islamic extremists, police have registered complaints filed by the Muslim assailants against 129 Christians; sources said these various charges were filed only to pressure the Christian community. Thus far police have arrested only Naveed Masih and Nauman Masih – whose cases were submitted in an Anti-Terrorism Court to make it difficult for them to obtain bail, according to their lawyer – but the Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement was able to obtain release on bail for Nauman Masih.

Nauman Masih told Compass that of the 17 Muslims named in the First Information Report on the Aug. 1 attack, only one, Abdul Khalid Kashmiri, was in jail. Kashmiri has offered 1 million rupees (US$12,500) if the Christian complainants would withdraw the case, Nauman Masih added.

The rest of the Muslim assailants are still at large, and sources said police have no intention of arresting them. In addition, three checks of 100,000 rupees (US$1,200) each issued by Punjab Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah for compensation to victims have been cancelled, Nauman Masih said, probably because the recipients are among the 129 Christians implicated in the false charges.

Nauman Masih said that when his mother arrived at the Christian Town Police Station the night his brother was arrested, officials told her that she could see him the next morning. But when she and other women arrived the next morning, he said, police told them that they had not arrested him.

The Community Development Initiative (CDI), an advocacy group working with the help of American Center for Law and Justice, has taken up the case of both brothers. CDI lawyer Haroon Suleman Khokhar said that they have been falsely implicated in a serious crime for protecting themselves and many other innocent Christians.

He said that police had no justification for submitting the cases of the two brothers in the Anti-Terrorism Court of Faisalabad. Khokhar said Naveed Masih was a key eyewitness in the report filed with police on the Aug. 1 attack, and that the two brothers were implicated in the cases only to try coercing Naveed Masih to withdraw from testifying against the Muslim attackers.

To protest police registration of the complaints against the 129 Christians, which include Bishop of Gojra John Samuel, Naveed Masih and Nauman Masih, on Oct. 5 the Christians of Gojra rejected goods sent by the U.S. Embassy to Pakistan in Islamabad. Demanding justice rather than aid, the Christians threw away the boxes of aid.

Staff’s bravery saves scores of lives at varsity

ISLAMABAD, Oct 21: The courage shown by two unsung heroes, including one who lost his life during the two suicide bombings in the International Islamic University (IIU), saved lives of hundreds of girl students in the institution’s cafeteria on Tuesday.

Pervez Masih, a 40-year-old Christian worker, saved scores of lives at the double-storey cafeteria, where around 400 female students were present at the time of the attack.

“There would have been dozens of deaths had the suicide bomber not been blocked by Pervez Masih,” said Saifur Rehman, a senior security official of the IIU.

The other hero, Mohammad Shaukat, survived the attack but he is fighting for his life on a bed in the surgical ward of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, as a shot fired by the suicide bomber hit him in lower abdomen.

Narrating the scene of the suicide attack on the cafeteria for women, Shaukat told Dawn that: “The attacker clad in a black burka was heading towards the cafeteria for female students at a time when they were having their lunch. I felt something wrong as no girl student, even one who observes veil, wears a head-to-toe burka on the women campus. I intercepted the bomber, who shot me, and I fell down but Pervez, who witnessed the scene, understood the designs of suicide bomber and held him at the entrance of the dining hall where the blast took place.”

Organs and flesh of the suicide bomber littered the entrance area and Pervez was thrown at the wall on the other side of the dining hall, said another eye-witness.

Pervez Masih, who leaves behind a three-year-old daughter and a widow, had joined the IIU on October 5. He was not only the sole breadwinner of his family, who live with him in a rented house in Dhoke Kala Khan, Rawalpindi.

“He was very simple and, by nature, he was quite different from others workers in the university,” said Amjad, the contractor (employer) who inducted Pervez Masih in his workforce on daily basis.

Two suicide attacks took place in two separate blocks of the IIU on Tuesday, killing seven people. Three girl students and the Christian worker died in the cafeteria, while three people, including two male students, died in the main block for men.

The university administration announced that it would extend monetary assistance to the bereaved family of Pervez Masih and injured Shaukat for the courage they showed in the tragic events in the international educational institution.

IIU President Dr Anwar Hussain Siddiqui in a press conference said there was no prior threat to the university and even then “best available” security had been provided.

Pakistani Christian Demand US To Ensure Justice NOT AID

Faisalabad:October 5,2009.(Joshua Lahro reports for PCP)

The Christians of Gojra openly blamed government of Pakistan to hatch conspiracy to attack on them on August 1, 2009, and protected Islamic militants who burnt alive 7 Christian women and children and destroyed 60 homes here today when US Aid officials reached in Gojra Town to distribute cash and relief goods.

It was big gathering at a Catholic Church in Gojra named St. Albert Church at 4:00 PM where US Aid officials arrived in company of Pakistani Christian selected leaders in parliament to distribute goods and cash among Christian victims of Islamic militants violence.

The Christian youth of Gojra protested against monitory aid to them and threw boxes of aid out of Church and raised slogans “We not want money or any aid but justice” “Withdraw cases registered against us”

The Muslim police of Gojra on intimation of Government of Pakistan and Government of Punjab registered cases against 129 Christians to conspire violence on August 1, 2009. The cases were also registered against Muslims but all were released on bail by Lahore High Court.

It is on record that Islamic militants attacked Christian Town Gojra and burnt alive seven Christians and gunned down 4 more while set on fire 60 houses but police registered cases against Christians. The police is demanding bribe of fifty thousand Rupees to one hundred thousand from Christians to take out their names from FIR and arresting those who deny to pay bribe. Police says that Christians must pay because they have money which government gave them as compensation.

The Gojra Christians also raised slogans on occasion of distribution of US Aid “ Not want cash but withdrawal of fabricated cases against them” “We do not need aid but we need justice, protection and equal rights”

Mr. Pervez Rafiq (M.P.A PPP), Mr. William Rose (member dist. council Fsd), Mr. Khalil Sindho (M.P.A PML(N), Mr. Dost Khosa (Muslim M.P.A PML(N) ) and Mr. Joel Amir Sahotra were also with officials of US Aid.

Nazir S Bhatti, President of Pakistan Christian Congress PCC condemned government of Pakistan to register false cases to conspire violence against 129 Christians and demanded immediate withdrawal

“Christians shall socially boycott selected Christians in Punjab government and Federal government if fabricated cases are not withdrawn against Christians of Gojra” said Nazir Bhatti

Nazir S Bhatti urged Shahbaz Bhatti, Federal Minister for Minorities and Kamran Michael, Minister in Punjab government to use their powers to withdraw false cases against Christians of Gojra or to face social boycott.

“Repeal blasphemy law to end violence against Christians in Pakistan”

BBC Report on Robert Danish Murder

Blasphemy law used to terrorise minorities in Pakistan

SIALKOT: Simmering with avenge and anguish, the residents of Jaithikey-Sambrial, aided by the police, did not let an alleged blasphemer be buried with peace in his native town on Wednesday and the heirs took the body to a cemetery on Mudassar Shaheed Road in Sialkot for memorial services and burial. Also, the police have registered a case under Section 319 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) against the jail superintendent and other officials for their negligence in duty.
Robert, alias Fanish Masih, arrested on Saturday by the Sambrial police for allegedly desecrating the Holy Quran was found dead inside his jail cell on Tuesday.

Police officials claimed that the Christians were not allowed to bury Fanish in his native village in a bid to avert any eventuality or communal violence in the troubled village Jaithikey-Sambrial. The memorial service of Fanish was held at the ground of CT Christian High School in Sialkot, attended by hundreds of the Christians, including members of the National Assembly Dr Nelson Azeem and Akram Gill and Punjab Minister for Human Rights Kamran Michael.
Earlier, mourners staged a sit-in on Kashmir Road by placing the body in the middle of the road and chanted anti-government slogans. Protesters also ransacked some nearby shops. The police resorted to baton charge besides using tear gas to disperse the procession, and 11 people, including Sohan Lal, Bashir Masih, Javaid Allah Ditta, Samuel Masih, Emanuel Masih and Pitras Masih, were injured in the skirmishes.
The mourners demanded registration of a murder case against the officials of the Sialkot District Jail for allegedly torturing Fanish to death. The police said nine Christians were arrested for creating the law and order situation.
The police were well prepared to face any untoward situation and a police contingent was called in from the entire Gujranwala division to be deployed in Jaithikey and Sialkot city.
Following strong protests by the Christians, Civil Lines police registered a case under Section 319 of the PPC against the jail superintendent and other officials for their negligence in their duty.
Earlier, on Tuesday night hundreds of Christians blocked traffic on main Kashmir Road, Paris Road, Kutchery Road, Abbott Road and Mudassar Shaheed Road. They ransacked 13 shops along the roads and forced the shopkeepers to close their businesses.
They also hurled stones on public transport vehicles and broke wind screens and windowpanes of several motors.
TENSION: The village is still under the grip of tension. The Christians, who had fled their houses after the alleged desecration of the Holy Quran by some Christians on Sept 11 and ensuing communal violence, could not return to the village.
The police had arrested Fanish for the desecration on Saturday and the court sent him to jail on a 14-day judicial remand on Monday. On Tuesday, Jail Superintendent Ishtiaq Lodhi claimed that Fanish, being kept in solitary confinement, had committed ‘suicide’ in his cell.
But his relatives and members of the Christian community refused to accept the jail authorities’ claims and alleged that he was tortured to death.
Punjab Minister for Human Rights Kamran Michael, Father Emanuel Yousaf Mani, special director of Aman Organisation, MPA Khalil Tahir Sindhu and Riasat Masih, father of Fanish, addressed a press conference at Sialkot DCO office and condemned the violence in Sialkot.
Mr Mani urged the government to review the blasphemy law. He said 947 people, all non-Muslims, had been killed since the promulgation of the Blasphemy Law.

PAKISTAN Muslim mob burns Church after blasphemy allegations

JAYTIKE, Pakistan -- Hundreds of Muslims set ablaze a Protestant church Sept. 11 in this town of Punjab province after a Christian youth was accused of tearing the Qur’an.

A church burnt by a mob of angry Muslims, who attacked Christians for a new - alleged - case of blasphemy. This is what happened yesterday afternoon in a village in Punjab, Pakistan, where the Christian community was targeted by Islamic extremists.
"The extremists were protesting against the desecration of the Quran by a young Christian from the village" Father Emmanuel Yousaf Mani, director of the Catholic Churches National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) refers to AsiaNews, "that is why they set fire to the church". The priest, who heard the eye witness accounts of the inhabitants, adds that "the place of worship is used by Catholics and Protestants".
NCJP sources report that yesterday, at about 12:30 local time, a Muslim mob gathered round the village church in Jaithikey, not far from the city of Samberial in the district of Sialkot (Punjab). They first damaged the building, then set it on fire. The extremists also looted two houses adjoining the church.
According to preliminary reports, the real cause of tension is a relationship between a twenty year old Christian, whose name is Fanish, and a Muslim girl. The young man was accused of having "provoked" the girl and "throwing away the Koran [the girl] had in her hands".
"Muslims can not tolerate a Muslim girl falling in love with a Christian," says father Mani, confirming the news of the young man’s arrest this morning by police officers. "The authorities - adds the priest – will not allow access to journalists, to verify the events firsthand".

A statement released by NCJP explains that "The tense situation precipitated following the end of Friday prayers," when a call to action "to give a lesson to the Christians" was launched from the mosque. Following the announcement, at least 35 families left the village for security reasons; others decided to remain in their homes anyway.
The police reached the village, while the crowd of Muslims gathered, wiping themselves up into a frenzy over the - alleged - case of desecration of the Koran. In the evening, the extremists were driven from the homes of Christian villagers, but hundreds remained in the area, under police surveillance.

Father Emmanuel Yousaf Mani, NCJP national director, Kamran Michael, the Provincial Minister for Human Rights and Minorities and Nelson Azeem, a member of the National Assembly (the parliament of Pakistan) arrived in Samerial and, in close contact with local government and police, are following the evolution of events.
After the attack on Gojra in early August, in which seven people were killed, there is a real risk of a new massacre against the Christian community in the name of the blasphemy law.

INCIDENT OF GOJRA

incedent of gojra - CDU Pakistan

Pakistani Christians protesting over Gojra killings

Pakistan Blasphemy Law

FAISALABAD: Governor Punjab Salman Taseer has said

Tuesday, August 04, 2009
That incident of Gojra could be averted if police and administration had reacted diligently, efficiently and with sense of responsibility.

He was addressing Christians during his visit to Christian Colony, Catholic Church and village Korian near Gojra on Tuesday. The Governor expressed his shock and grief over this incident and said that such treatment to Christians in Pakistan of Quiad-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto is highly regrettable.

“The white strip in our national flag clearly admits the presence of minorities and PPP would continue its struggle for their fundamental rights,” he said and added that Christians are very dear to us as a Christian had committed suicide on the hanging of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

“We are duty bound to protect their fundamental and constitutional rights, “ he added.
He said that President Asif Ali Zardari had also taken an immediate notice of this situation and sent Rangers to restore normalcy and protect Christians’ life and properties.

“Gojra incident is not a sudden happening,” he said and added that it was a planned conspiracy. “Same elements are involved in it that had turned Swat into a hell,” he said and added we had flushed them out from Swat and would also eliminate them from Punjab.

He said that families of dead would get Rs.5 Lac while Rs.3 Lac would be given for the repair of damaged properties.

Federal Minister for Minorities Mr. Shahbaz Bhatti said that judicial inquiry into this incident has already been ordered and strict action would be taken against elements responsible of these riots. He said that President had asked him to go to Gojra to condole with the affectees.

“We would remain available here till their complete rehabilitation,” he assured.

Mr. Bhatti also said that this incident could be averted if police and administration had reacted efficiently. He said that President had taken immediate notice of this incident and sent Rangers to control the situation but it was a delayed action.

He termed this incident as a deep rooted conspiracy to sabotage the efforts of government to promote religious harmony. However, he said that elements involved in this riot would not be spared.