Church Attacked In Pakistan
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By Sheraz Khurram Khan
Special Correspondent for ASSIST News Service in Pakistan
GUJRANWALA, PAKISTAN (ANS) — In an attempt to grab the land where a church stands now, three Muslim men allegedly incited and led a Muslim mob to attack a church on Tuesday, March 18, in Gajrakh, a Christian neighborhood in the Pakistani city of Gujranwala, during the Holy Week.
This prompted angry Christians to stage a protest demonstration on March 19 against the incident, International Christian Concern has reported.
Earlier, a Christian man, Zahid Salamat was executed in Pakistani city of Multan during Lent on March 12 for murdering a 9 year old Muslim minor, Muhammad Adnan. The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace and some other Christian rights groups had called for postponement of Zahid’s execution but government went ahead with hanging Zahid during Lent.
The latest church attack has been carried out by Muslim mob to grab the church property, but Pakistani Christians had been fearing attacks on churches, missionary schools and other church properties since staging of the anti-cartoon protests in Pakistan last month following reprinting of sacrilegious caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad by some western newspapers.
According to a story released by the International Christian Concern (ICC) (www.persecution.org) the mob wanted to seize a community centre that belonged to a church in Gajrakh started tearing down the walls of the church.
The mob manhandled Pastor Shairf Bhatti, who appeared at the scene of incident along with a group of Christians, apparently to stop the mob from attacking the church.
The angry mob, according to the story, hurled stones at the church. The local Christians rushed to the scene, forcing the mob to flee.
The Christian residents of the area staged a protest demonstration, the next day, on March 19 to express their anger against the attack on the church. They called for protection of religious minorities and their places of worship, said the story.
The protesters, the story said, blocked the main government transport road at Gondlawala, a major intersection, by parking tractors laden with garbage across the road.
It said the enraged protesters during the demonstration that lasted for more than two hours raised slogans against the people responsible for the church attack and demanded that the culprits be arrested.
Pastor Sharif Bhatti, Pastor Sabir and other union leaders threatened to stage protests in front of offices of police officials if they did not arrest those responsible for the Church attack, it said.
In a latest development, the ICC reported that Adnan Gujar who along with two other Muslim men including Muhammad Asghar and Muhammad Ashraf had allegedly led the mob to attack the Church has been arrested. The others it said are still at large.
The Christians, the latest ICC update said, had bought the land where the church is standing now in 1984 from a Muslim man, Muhammad Nazir. It said the sale angered his sons who have been trying to get the land back since then. It described the attack on the church as an attempt by Nazir’s sons to get the land back.
Condemning the latest attack on a church in Pakistan, Chief Coordinator of the Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan, Mr. Sohail Johnson has called on government to take stern action against the land mafia.
The land mafia attempts to grab Christian properties and Churches in connivance with some black sheep, said Johnson while referring to some unscrupulous government officials.
He also called upon Christians across the country to rise above their petty differences and emerge as a united force against any possible future attempts by the land mafia to occupy churches or Christian properties.
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