PAKISTAN: Two Christians facing blasphemy charges shot dead outside court
Episcopal News Service. July 21, 2010 [072110-04]
Matthew Davies
Two Christian brothers in Pakistan were shot dead by unidentified gunmen on July 19 outside a district court of law in Faisalabad moments after they'd attended a trial hearing for charges of blasphemy.
A police escort also was injured in the attack, the latest incident of ongoing Christian persecution in a country that is predominantly Muslim.
The murders of Sajjid and Rashid Emmanuel have led Christians to flee Waris Pura, a suburban area of Faisalabad and a former Christian ghetto with a population of about 100,000, "for the fear of anti-Christian violence, as the local mosque has launched protest action against Christians," according to an e-mail message sent to ENS from the Diocese of Peshawar communications office.
"Pamphlets against Christians were distributed calling for mass action against Christians," the e-mail said. "During the procession, the angry mob stoned a Catholic Church at Faisalabad, and the situation is getting more tense and dangerous by every passing moment."
The two brothers were arrested on July 1 for allegedly writing insulting words against Prophet Mohammed. Both brothers denied the charges.
Pakistan's blasphemy law has been used by extremists to justify attacks against Christians. According to the Pakistan penal code, the law forbids damaging or defiling a place of worship or the Qur'an, the Muslim holy book, and forbids defaming Prophet Mohammed. These "offences relating to religion," as they're cited in the penal code, are punishable by life imprisonment or death.
The law has received widespread condemnation from Anglicans and Muslims, including Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the Network for Inter Faith Concerns for the Anglican Communion, which announced in August 2009 that it was one of the main sponsors of a petition asking the government of Pakistan to repeal it.
The Christian community in Pakistan is protesting the recent murders, "but everybody knows that after a lot of hue and cry, this matter will also be swept under the carpet, buried forever," according to the diocesan e-mail. "The persecution of Christians and other minorities will continue unless the laws which are discriminatory in nature are scraped from the constitution of Pakistan."
Bishop Humphrey Peters of Peshawar has condemned the murders and subsequent violence and has called on church partners "to pray for this whole situation and protection of the Christians of Pakistan, especially of Faisalabad."
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan issued a statement July 21 calling the escape of the attackers "scandalous" and the murders "a sad reflection on the state's obligation to protect the lives of all citizens."
The murders occurred as Bishop Samuel Azariah, moderator of the Church of Pakistan and bishop of Raiwand, was visiting church partners in the United States, including the Episcopal Church.
Azariah told ENS in an interview that Christians account for 1.5 percent of the population in Pakistan. "We are not only a religious minority, but a social and economic minority of the country," he said. "But in our situation of poverty, weakness and marginalization, the church has played a very important role in the national development of Pakistan through its services in education and health care."
Azariah talked about the challenges of living alongside a Muslim majority and with neighbors such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda. "Sometimes it is very difficult to accomplish the commandment … to love our neighbors as ourselves," he said. "But we do our best in the process of reconciliation, in the process of healing, in developing ways and means whereby forgiveness can be given to other people."
At the 76th General Convention, the Episcopal Church expressed its "solidarity with the Church of Pakistan and the whole Christian community in Pakistan and especially the Diocese of Peshawar, which borders Afghanistan."
In Resolution D084 convention calls upon the Episcopal Church to facilitate a visit to the United States "of one or more representatives of the Christian community in Pakistan to speak to the American people about the situation in Pakistan," and what Christians in the United States can do to help.