Pakistani court denies bail to Gujrat Christians accused of blasphemy

CLAAS Press Release – 3 August 2015

Gujranwala’s Anti-terrorist court has denied bail to all Christians’ bail but granted it to Muslim Zulfiqar who printed the posters.

On 1st September CLAAS lawyers Tahir Bashir appeared in the Anti-terrorist court of Gujranwala for the confirmation of bail, but the Judge, Bushra Zaman, rejected all of Christians’ bail but granted it  bail to Muslim man Zulfiqar, who printed the posters in question.

These posters are said to have offended some local Muslims by using the word Rasool (Apostle) for late Pastor Fazal Masih, the founder of the Biblical Church of God.

They took this matter to the police, civil lines, where a case was registered against 14 people, including one Muslim, Zulfiqar.

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Christians’ faces painted black; heads shaved following blasphemy allegations

July 2, 2015  - Supporting Persecuted Christians in Pakistan A Christian family had their faces painted black, their heads shaved and a garland of shoes placed around their necks, before…

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UK: Muslim convert to Christianity persecuted for 19 years

July 2, 2015 – By Raymond Ibrahim

Nissar Hussain, a former Muslim from Pakistan who converted to Christianity in 1996, recently wrote a letter to his local MP recounting some of the violence, abuse, and other attacks that he and his wife and their six children have suffered at the hands of Muslims in the Bradford area where they live. Written to his MP—a Muslim, who did not respond—the letter follows:

Dear Naseem Shah MP,

Can I congratulate you on behalf of myself and family on your stunning victory and we can’t express our delight as our newly elected MP for the Ward of Manningham and wish you every success for the future. On a serious note can I express our utter misery and dire situation as Christian converts from a Mirpuri/Muslim background since 1996 [Mirpuri is a region in Pakistan].

We were forced out of our previous home after over several years of suffering as converts and in short my family and I endured ‘hell’ by my fellow Pakistani young men in the form of persecution which entailed assault, daily intimidation, criminal damage to property: smashing house windows and also 3 vehicles written off whilst the community looked on and even endorsed this. One of vehicles was torched outside my home. Despite witnessing another vehicle being rammed deliberately by a man who I knew, the Police did not even take a statement never mind an arrest. Finally after being threatened to be burnt out of my home these young men deliberately set the neighbours’ house (which was vacant) on fire in the hopes that our house would catch fire. When I had reported it to Police prior to this happening the Police sergeant’s response was: “Stop trying to be a crusader and move out!” In short the Police had wilfully failed us so as not to be labelled racists or seem to cause the Muslim community offence at our suffering and expense.

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Christian slave freed from Muslim master in Pakistan

July 3, 2015 - By Raymond Ibrahim Mumtaz Masih, a Christian man, was recently released from forced slavery by his Muslim employer. Masih had an arrangement with his Muslim employer,…

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Pakistan’s government won’t abolish blasphemy law because it “fears the reaction of extremists”

June 25, 2015 By Robert Spencer – Jihad Watch

All over the world, the principle is being reinforced: terrorism works. To get what you want, threaten violence, and the “free world” will jump to comply with your wishes.

And Archbishop Coutts’ brother bishops in the U.S. are pursuing an illusory and self-defeating “dialogue” even to the extent of silencing those voices that speak honestly about the root causes of the Muslim persecution of Christians. They are heading the Church in the West off a cliff, and will bear the responsibility for that.

“Pakistan’s ‘fear of extremists’ prevents abolition of blasphemy law,” by Felipe Avillez and Abigail Frymann Rouch, The Tablet, June 24, 2015:

The Government of Pakistan might be willing to abolish the country’s draconian blasphemy law, if it were not for the fact that it “fears the reaction of extremists”, the President of the Pakistani Bishops’ Conference said.

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Pakistan’s ‘Pro-Taliban’ Gov’t Encourages Violent Muslim Attacks Against Christians, Fmr. Parliament Member Says

1 June 2015- Christian Post

People from the Christian community hold candles while taking part in a protest rally to condemn the suicide bombings which took place outside two churches in Lahore, in Peshawar, March 18, 2015.

Suicide bombings outside two churches in Lahore at least killed 16 people and wounded nearly 80 others during services on Sunday in attacks claimed by a faction of the Pakistani Taliban.

Human rights activist Pervez Rafique, who’s also a former minority member of parliament representing the Pakistan People’s Party in Punjab, said it will be hard to change Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, which he said are upheld by an Islamic government that has “strong relations” with Muslim extremists.

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University of California-Berkeley student’s article about why she left Islam pulled from school paper over fears for her safety

June 12, 2015 – By Robert Spencer

I saw the piece when it first went up in the Berkeley student newspaper, marveled that it was published at all in such a place, and had planned to post an excerpt at Jihad Watch, but it was gone before I got a chance. Now we know why: there are concerns for the safety of the student who wrote it, and such concerns are entirely reasonable, given the fact (however often denied by dishonest Islamic apologists in the U.S.) of Islam’s death penalty for apostasy. The article was also noteworthy for the author’s frank admission that “yes, Islam does allow men to have four wives and sex slaves” — truths also often denied by Western Islamic apologists. In any case, “free speech” Berkeley ought to be in an uproar over the fact that this student is under threat, and the student paper ought to be filled with avowals of her human rights and declarations of how she must and will be protected. However, Berkeley ain’t what it used to be, if it ever was.

Terrorism Works, part 924,103: “Student’s Anti-Islam Article Retracted Due To ‘Safety’ Risk,” by Austin Petersen, Libertarian Republic, June 8, 2015:

An opinion piece written by a student at the University of California-Berkeley explaining her decision to leave Islam has been pulled from the school newspaper’s website over fears for the author’s safety.

The opinion piece, titled “On Leaving Islam,” recounted the personal story of the narrator (whose name we will withold) growing up a devout (though moderate) Muslim in Pakistan, but later abandoning the faith as she learned more about the world.

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With More Muslims Converting to Christianity Than Ever Before, Is the Collapse of Islam Imminent?

June 02, 2015 – CBN News – Dale Hurd

The headlines say Islam is going to be the largest religion in the world. But Islam is facing a crisis.

The terrible deeds of ISIS, done in the name of Allah and following the violent example of Muhammed, have horrified Muslims who are now questioning their faith.

Missionaries to the Islamic world say more Muslims have converted to Christianity in the last 14 years (since 9/11) than during the entire 14 centuries of Islamic history.

Secret Lives

Many keep their conversion a secret, afraid for their lives. In London, CBN News talked to Imram (no last name given to protect his identity), a British college student from a Pakistani immigrant family.

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Pakistan: Muslim mob attacks church and Christian colony after Christian accused of blasphemy

May 25, 2015  Christian homes and a church have been attacked by an angry Muslim mob after blasphemy allegations were made against a Christian man. According to reports, on May…

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Christian Businessman Builds 140-Foot ‘Bulletproof’ Cross In the Middle of Pakistan’s Largest City

May 16, 2015 -The Washington Post – Tim Craig

A Christian businessman is building a 140-foot cross in the middle of Pakistan’s largest city. The cross, expected to be completed this summer, is being billed as the “largest cross in Asia.” (Tim Craig/The Washington Post)

Pakistani businessman Parvez Henry Gill says he was sleeping when God crashed into one of his dreams and gave him a job: find a way to protect Christians in Pakistan from violence and abuse. “I want you to do something different,” God told him.

That was four years ago, and Gill, a lifelong devout Christian, struggled for months with how to respond. Eventually, after more restless nights and more prayers, he awoke one morning with his answer: He would build one of the world’s largest crosses in one of the world’s most unlikely places.

“I said, ‘I am going to build a big cross, higher than any in the world, in a Muslim country,’ ” said Gill, 58. “It will be a symbol of God, and everybody who sees this will be worry-free.”

Now, in this overwhelmingly Muslim country, in the heart of a city where Islamist extremists control pockets of some neighborhoods, the 14-story cross is nearly complete.

It is being built at the entrance to Karachi’s largest Christian cemetery, towering over thousands of tombstones that are often vandalized. Once his cross looms over such acts of disrespect, Gill said, he hopes it can convince the members of Pakistan’s persecuted Christian minority that someday their lives will get better.

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Christians Planting Churches in Pakistan Receive Death Threats From Muslims: ‘Convert to Islam, or We Will Make An Example Of You’

By Leah Marieann Klett May 14, 2015

Christian leaders in Lahore, Pakistan have received death threats from Muslims over the past few months because of their involvement in the building of churches in the area, AsiaNews has revealed.

Javed David, a Pakistani Christian activist, told the news source on Monday that he and at least three of his Christian associates have been threatened by an anonymous group of Muslims amid growing anger regarding the construction of Christian churches.

David, who is the president of Hope for the Light Ministries, and his associates have been helping poor Christian communities in Pakistan build places of worship since 2013. However, he explained that he is becoming increasingly uneasy, particularly in the wake of the double suicide bomb attacks on churches in Lahore back in March.

In April, the anonymous group warned that if he continues to help construct churches, he will be made an “example” of.

“I had been to church in Sheikhupura to attend a meeting with colleagues. It was 8 p.m. when we left to return to Lahore. We were about to reach the main road when a motorbike drove up and blocked the way,” David said. “[I thought] maybe they were following us. The two bikers were wearing a helmet. One of them came up to my window and spoke to me. ‘We know what you are doing here,’ he said. ‘Stop building churches. Convert to Islam, which is the true religion. Otherwise we will make a horrible example of you.'”

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Earthquakes of Faith

By Brian C Stiller , Global Ambassador, World Evangelical Alliance – April 28, 2015

A shaking is taking place in the Muslim world with tectonic rumblings. Signs are early and evidence is anecdotal, yet stories abound and are persuasive. The unsettling of entrenched Islamic faith is making its way into places and with people we assumed were closed to conversations about the Christian faith.

Returning from the Middle East, a journey I’ve made regularly in the past few years, I spoke with those engaged in Christian witness about some possibilities they would not have verbalized twelve months ago. I begin with a story from meeting with Syrian refugees on the Lebanese side of the border.

A worn, gnarled hand gently stroked the bruised face of her two-year-old granddaughter whose front teeth had been broken and face scraped by a serious fall. I sat next to them in their scrabbled together shack in a Syrian refugee camp in the Beqaa Valley, just over the mountains from Syria. The life of “Fadwa” had been shattered first by her husband having been taken prisoner in Syria. Then her daughter died in childbirth because Syrian soldiers at a checkpoint refused to let her go to the hospital in time. Then to stay alive Fadwa was forced to flee from her home in Lebanon and walk three days over the mountains. Today she cares for five adults and six children in a makeshift abode, the main room curtained off from the sleeping room.

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Pakistani Christians Commemorate Victims Of Terror Attack, Say Jihadists Will Never ‘Push Back’ Their Faith

By Leah Marieann Klett (news@gospelherald.com) Mar 18, 2015

Hundreds of Pakistani Christians on Tuesday held prayer services to commemorate the victims of two Taliban suicide bombs in the city of Lahore, refusing to let terrorism silence their faith.

On March 16, suicide bombers affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban launched attacks against two churches conducting Sunday morning services in the predominantly Christian city of Lahore, killing at least 14 people and injuring 70 others. Although police said that the bombers were stopped by either worshippers or security personnel, the attackers still managed to detonate their explosives.

Christian leaders from across Pakistan  country attended the funeral for the victims following two days of violent protests by the community members against the blasts. According to Reuters, the Pakistani government had called in 5,000 police and paramilitary rangers to control the law and order situation in the region, where violent clashes between Christians and Muslims erupted. Several protesters were killed and about a dozen wounded in the clashes.

Speaking on Tuesday, Manual Mani, a pastor attending the funerals, said the act of terrorism would not stop Christians from practicing their faith within the country. “I would like to tell these terrorists if they think that they can push us back from our faith, they are deadly, entirely, very much at fault,” he said.

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‘They will kill us’: Pakistani Christian family seeks asylum in Bangkok after escape

February 27, 2015 – By Robert Spencer

This is just one family out of a great many in the same situation. This is a human rights catastrophe of immense proportions. But no “Islamophobia” is being committed, so the UN doesn’t consider it worthy of significant attention.

“‘They will kill us’: Pakistani Christian family seeks asylum in Bangkok after escape,” Express Tribune, February 26, 2015 (thanks to Lookmann):

BANGKOK: They were a middle-class family in Pakistan, living in a comfortable three-bedroom apartment with a modern kitchen and a PlayStation for the three kids, reports The Associated Press.

Fluent in English, the father ran his own moving company while the mother taught art.

A death threat signed by an extremist group with three bullets attached compelled the Christian family to leave it all behind 18 months ago.

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Christians Flee to Pakistan Ghetto as Blasphemy Allegations Rise Against Minorities

February 11, 2015 – The Associated Press – Muhammed Muheisen

This slum on the outskirts of Pakistan’s capital looks like many others ringing it, with dirt roads and cement-block homes, until a passer-by sees a simple black banner bearing a Bible verse about Jesus Christ’s resurrection.

The Christian Colony on the edge of Islamabad is home to many Christians who once lived elsewhere in the capital, but fled in fear after a string of blasphemy allegations and killings. In this country of 180 million people, where Islam is the state religion and 95 percent of people are Muslims, Christians represent just a sliver of the population.

Most face daily discrimination and eke out a living by holding low-paying jobs, like street sweeping. However, they’ve carved out their own lives in a country that faces near-daily attacks by Islamic extremists.

“I wish to save my people by providing them faith and some education,” said Pastor Orangzaib Maseeh, who teaches locals how to read at his simple, open-air church. “I want them to have a life of a normal person. They used to have one.”

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