Death threats await Christians in West Bengal

More than a year after a sudden outburst of persecution drove them from their village, a group of 14 Christians in West Bengal, India, still can’t go home, reports Gospel for Asia.

In July 2008, the Christians agreed to meet with a group of other villagers for what they thought was a routine gathering. However, the villagers turned out to be violent anti-Christians who immediately attacked the believers, threatening to murder them if they didn’t leave.

The beaten-up men and women made it to safety in a nearby village, where they found shelter with two Gospel for Asia–supported missionaries. Since then, the missionaries and their GFA leaders have been trying to work out the situation with village leaders and police. A local political party tried to help negotiate for the displaced believers to be allowed to return home.

Finally, on December 20, the Christians thought it was safe to return. So they cautiously went back, only to be called that very night for another village meeting. The memory of their last meeting was vivid, and the Christians approached hoping that this time, it would be different.

But just as before, the villagers waited to harm them. They beat the Christians mercilessly, forcing them to run once more for their lives.

Currently, the political party that tried to help the persecuted group is providing shelter for them and trying to find a permanent solution.

The GFA-supported missionaries and the believers urgently ask for prayer that God will work in this situation, and that His love will soften the hearts of the anti-Christians.

Report from the Christian Telegraph 

Ministry reports thousands of Karen deaths in Myanmar

Atrocities are mounting in Burma–the country now known as Myanmar. Thousands of people have been killed by the military-led government. And many human rights workers say there’s no end in sight, reports MNN.

President of Vision Beyond Borders Patrick Klein just returned from the border of Myanmar and Thailand and says the situation is desperate. "The government seems like it’s intent on genocide. 500,000 people have died already. They say it surpasses Darfur because they document more than 3,300 villages that have been completely burned to the ground."

According to Klein, this is a strategic political move. "The government is trying to get rid of everybody who is in opposition to this current military regime. So, it’s not just the Karen, but the Karen seem to be receiving the brunt of it."

The issue has been addressed by the Harvard Law School’s report, "Crimes in Burma," but the rest of the world is ignoring it. Klein says, "It’s baffling to us because we can’t figure it out. Nobody seems to know what’s going on. Nobody seems to be interested. When we talk, people in the States say, ‘Really? That’s happening in Burma? Well, we need to know that.’"

I asked Klein if he thinks it’s genocide. "I heard one of the Burmese generals say, ‘By the year 2010’ (which isn’t that far away) ‘there will be no more Karen people left. We’re going to wipe them off the face of the earth. The only ones you’ll see will be in the photographs in the museums.’"

Klein says the international media seems to be ignoring the situation.

He says the Myanmar military isn’t the only offender. Burmese orphans, refugees in bordering Thailand, are being threatened by Thai officials. "The Thai border police want to send them back into Burma. There are land mines everywhere. They’re killing these people. And they want to send these kids back because they’re kind of working with the government, underhandedly, to get money kickbacks from the government to send these kids back in, to slaughter them."

Klein says the stories of evil abound. "We heard a story about an eight-year-old boy who was told by the Burmese military, in front of his family, to climb a tree and climb as high as he could. They held him at gun point. He climbed as high as he could, and they told him to jump down, or they would shoot [his family]. So, he jumped to his death in front of his family."

Vision Beyond Borders was able to take in rice, medical supplies, toys for Christmas, and Bibles. Klein says, "Even in the midst of all these atrocities, many people are getting saved. So we want to keep providing Bibles."

Klein says nobody expects the situation to improve. "The elections are coming up in Burma in March. They believe 50,000 to 100,000 more refugees will come into Thailand before the election, and probably 150,000 more after the election."

Christian actor Kirk Cameron has agreed to be the narrator for a documentary on the situation in Burma. "We want to get that out around the nation," says Klein, "to call the churches to pray and ask God to intervene in the country to bring down this wicked government."

Report from the Christian Telegraph 

Pakistani Muslims Allegedly Poison Christian Employees to Death

Two brothers die, third in critical condition, after complaining they were not paid.

GUJRANWALA, Pakistan, December 15 (CDN) — Muslim employers of three Christian sanitation workers at a banquet/wedding hall here allegedly poisoned the three workers yesterday, killing two of them; at press time the third was struggling for life in intensive care.

The father of the three workers, Yousaf Masih, said the owner of the hall, along with the manager, poisoned his sons because they were Christians who had dared to ask for pay owed to them.

Imran Masih, 29, and Irfan Masih, 25, died at the Ferozewala Pul Banquet & Marriage Hall after being forced to drink something that was heavily poisoned, Yousaf Masih said. The third worker, 23-year-old Aakash Masih, was in critical condition at the Intensive Care Unit of Civil Hospital Gujranwala, in Punjab Province.

“It appears from the position they were in that they were forced to consume some kind of poisoned drink, or a drug, and they were left there to die,” Yousaf Masih said. “The administration of the banquet and wedding hall did not call a hospital or take them to a hospital – instead they called us after the death of two of our loved ones.”

The Peoples Colony police station has registered a murder and deception case against Imtiyas Warriach, owner of the Ferozewala Pul Banquet & Marriage Hall, and hall manager Abid Virk. At press time they remained at large.

The chief of the Peoples Colony police station was not available for comment, but an officer told Compass that the two suspects would be arrested soon.

The family learned of the deaths when another of Yousaf Masih’s sons, 21-year-old Javed Masih, received a telephone call at home from the owner, Warriach, saying that his older brother Imran Masih was lying dead on the floor of the wedding hall.

Because they had not been paid, the three brothers had left the hall to work elsewhere before returning this past weekend. Javed Masih said he spoke by telephone on Friday (Dec. 11) with Warriach, when the owner called asking for his three brothers to return to work.

“The owner and manager of the wedding hall called me in the early morning of Dec. 11 and pleaded for my three brothers to rejoin and start working,” Javed Masih said. “They promised to reimburse their previous outstanding wages, as well as pay them a Christmas bonus and overtime. At this my brothers agreed and went to work the next morning.”

When Yousaf and Javed Masih were summoned to the wedding hall yesterday, they found Imran Masih and Irfan Masih dead. Aakash Masih was alive but lying still on the floor, they said.

Yousaf Masih said his sons had long told him that owner Warriach and manager Virk refused to pay their daily wages, and that the managers and staff members at the hall spoke derogatorily to them for being Christians.

“On demand of their daily wages, the owner and manager had threatened them that they would continue to work without payment or face the dire consequences,” Yousaf Masih said. “After my sons rejoined as sanitation workers, both Warriach and Virk started to make fun of them for leaving the job previously. Both the Muslim men mocked my sons for being Christian and called them by pejorative names such as ‘Choohra.’”

Yousaf Masih, 47, told Compass at the Sargodha offices of human rights group Rays of Development Organization that his sons had worked at the same wedding hall since the day it opened in 2005. Sobbing, he said that the owner and manager had never paid them their full wages during that time, so they had begun looking for other work a few weeks before the Islamic festival of sacrifice, called Eid-ul-Azha.

Muslims refrain from marrying during the Islamic month of Muharram, so in the small window of time between the start of that month and the end of the Eid-ul-Azha festival, wedding halls thrive and require all available help, he said.

Javed Masih said the bodies of Imran Masih and Irfan Masih were moved to the morgue at Civil Hospital Gujranwala for autopsy.

Report from Compass Direct News 

Indonesian Theology Students Withstand Threats, Illness

Seminarians resist eviction from former municipal building as they await decent relocation.

JAKARTA, Indonesia, December 1 (CDN) — Some 1,000 seminary students are resisting efforts to evict them from the former municipal building of West Jakarta where they have taken refuge after Muslim protestors drove them from their campus last year.

On Oct. 27 officials began evicting about 300 students of Arastamar Evangelical Theological Seminary (SETIA) from blocks I and II of the former mayoral building, but those in blocks III, IV, and V chose to remain.

The students, some of whom had sown their mouths shut as part of a hunger strike, asserted that new quarters offered by the Jakarta Provincial Government are not yet fit for occupancy – dirty and unkempt with broken windows and doors. They said the property offered, the North Jakarta Transmigrant building, has not functioned since 1999, and its five buildings accommodate only 200 to 300 students.

The seminary students told Compass that unidentified mobs have threatened them, telling them to leave the former municipal complex immediately.

“They threaten us and tell us that if we do not move, our safety cannot be guaranteed,” said SETIA’s Yulius Thomas Bilo.

The Rev. Matheus Mangentang, rector of SETIA, confirmed that the threats had been made. Asked about the identity of the mobs, he said he knew only that they appeared daily to intimidate and threaten students.

“We are going to move as soon as possible – Dec. 31 at the latest,” Mangentang said. “If we don’t, the place is no longer safe.”

He added, however, that they would not move until their new location was clear.

“We have not wavered in our desire to return to our own place, because we actually have our own campus in Kampung Pulo, East Jakarta,” Mangentang told Compass.

The Jakarta Provincial Government has not allowed the students and staff to return to their campus, citing fear of more violence.

“It is not permissible for them to return to Kampung Pulo; conditions are not conducive,” the Jakarta area secretary who goes by a single name, Muhayat, told Compass.

In July 2008 hundreds of protestors shouting “Allahu-Akbar [“God is greater]” and brandishing machetes forced the evacuation of staff and students from the SETIA campus in Kampung Pulo village. Urged on by announcements from a mosque loudspeaker to “drive out the unwanted neighbor” following a misunderstanding between students and local residents, the protestors also had sharpened bamboo and acid and injured at least 20 students, some seriously.

Water and Electricity Crisis

Conditions for the 1,000 students living in the former West Jakarta mayor’s complex are worsening.

“Since the end of October, we have had no electricity and no water,” said Alexander Dimu, head of the student senate. “We have to depend upon our own resources and donations to buy water. We need about US$100 per day for water.”

Compass noted hundreds of students lined up to obtain water for bathing and drinking. They used old buckets to carry water to the bathrooms, which were badly in need of repair.

As a result of such living conditions, many students have diarrhea and hemorrhagic fever. 

“So far, six have fever and 17 have diarrhea,” Dimu told Compass. “Those who are ill have been taken to a nearby hospital.”

A number of students have quit school, according to Mangentang, as their parents were worried about the health conditions. The average SETIA student is from outside Jakarta. They come from Nias Island, East Indonesia, Borneo and other areas. Their families are largely farmers.

“The parents have millions of expectations as to how they can help the children of their home villages after graduation,” said Mangentang.

The ultimate destination of the students is still unclear. The Jakarta Provincial Government has stood firm in ordering them to move to Cikarang, West Java, about 90 kilometers (56 miles) from Jakarta. At the same time, the SETIA Foundation has requested the government find a new campus venue within Jakarta to avoid the difficult process of obtaining permits in the new provincial jurisdiction of West Java.

After SETIA staff and students met on Nov. 16 with several members of Parliament at the former mayoral office, the MPs led by Education Committee Vice Chairman Heri Ahmadi promised to ask Jakarta Gov. Fauzi Bowo to return them to their campus at Kampung Pulo with the necessary security. 

Mangentang said that he was still waiting for the members of Parliament to make good on that pledge.

The visit by the parliamentarians brought an end to a hunger strike by five students who had sewn their mouths shut at the former mayoral complex on Nov. 9. They were identified only as Yanisar, Leonardo, Mutari, Demas and Epy. That act followed a protest by the student council from Oct. 27 to Nov. 3.

Two units of heavy machinery had begun tearing down part of the main building where the 1,000 students are housed. Some of the students staying there were previously evicted from the Bumi Perkemahan Cibubur (BUPERTA) campground.

SETIA spokesman Yusup Agustinus Lifire told Compass the seminary is awaiting word from the Jakarta governor’s office about their returning to their campus at Kampung Pulo.

“We submitted an official letter to the governor, the police chief of Greater Jakarta and the military chief of Greater Jakarta on Oct. 28, but so far there is not any reply for us,” Lifire said. “We would like to leave this building if we could find a new place. It is not certain if the students began to attack and throw stones at police officers on Oct. 27-28 when they began demolishing one of the buildings. There were some provocateurs who started to throw some stones at police officers, then the officers threw the stones at the students and vice versa.”

Lifire also said the Jakarta governor’s office should take responsibility for the crisis. SETIA has asked the governor to guarantee security for a return to their original campus or else prepare or provide a new venue, he said.

A female student of Christian Education said there is a banner at the original campus that reads in Bahasa, “If you dare to return, we will wipe you out.”

Report from Compass Direct News 

Lutherans ask forgiveness for 16th-century persecutions

Leaders of the Lutheran World Federation have approved a statement apologising for the 16th-century persecution by Lutherans of Anabaptists, religious reformers whose successors are found in groups such as the Mennonites, reports Ecumenical News International.

“We ask for forgiveness – from God and from our Mennonite sisters and brothers – for the harm that our forebears in the sixteenth century committed to Anabaptists,” says the statement adopted unanimously on 26 October by the LWF’s main governing body, its council.

The apology is now recommended for formal adoption by the highest LWF governing body, its assembly, meeting in Stuttgart, Germany, in July 2010.

Report from the Christian Telegraph

In Pakistan, another Christian accused of blasphemy

The Washington-DC based human rights organization, International Christian Concern (ICC), says it has learned that an 18-year-old Christian has been falsely accused of blasphemy, beaten, and imprisoned in Gujranwala, Pakistan, reports Dan Wooding, founder of ASSIST Ministries.

A spokesperson for ICC told ANS, “The young man, Safian Masih, lived in a mixed neighborhood of both Christians and Muslims. On August 8, the young daughter of one of his Muslim neighbors demanded that Safian bring her items from the grocery store. Safian refused, and she slapped him. Safian slapped her back, and the argument escalated to include both families.

“After the altercation, the girl’s parents accused Safian of trying to rape their daughter. When other Muslims heard this, they gathered and severely beat him. After beating him, they submitted a report to the police accusing Safian of rape, and had him handed over to police custody and jail.”

The ICC spokesperson went on to say that two days later, on August 10, the Muslims changed their story and accused Safian of blasphemy instead of rape. They claimed that the girl was attending a Madressah [Islamic school] to learn about the Qur’an, and that when Safian encountered her he took her Qur’an and tore out its pages. After hearing this accusation, some Muslims attacked Safian again and beat him so badly that they forced him to “admit” that he had “blasphemed” the Qur’an. They then handed him over to the police again.

On August 14, a Muslim mob gathered and demanded that Safian be put to death for blasphemy.

“Safian is currently in police custody, but his family has fled their home because they fear for their safety. The mob also threatened to kill anyone who helped Safian or his family,” added the ICC spokesperson.

ICC’s Jonathan Racho said, “In Pakistan, Christians live as second-class citizens and repeatedly face violence from the Muslims majority. Muslims easily exacerbate small disagreements and call for the execution or even murder of Christians. While ICC does not condone Safian’s slapping of a Muslim girl, it is unconscionable for Muslims to call for his death.”

ICC urges its supporters to pray for the safety of Safian and his family. Also, please contact the Embassy of Pakistan in your country and politely ask the Pakistani officials to release Safian from detention and ensure his safety and that of his family.

Report from the Christian Telegraph 

GFA women missionaries harassed by mob of boys in India

Three Gospel for Asia-supported women missionaries were cornered and harassed by a mob of nearly 30 boys. Chameli, Harshita and Vinaya were giving out tracts and sharing the love of Jesus in one of India’s coastal cities when the incident took place, reports Gospel for Asia to ASSIST News Service.

They had been able to reach out in the community for a while that day without incident. Then, as they were walking down one street, two young boys approached, demanding to know if the women were there to convert people.

They came toward them in full force, took away their tracts and began hitting Harshita and Vinaya in the head with them. Chameli, the other woman, tried to calm the boys, but the boys were so enraged that they began to verbally harass the women, even calling them prostitutes.

They grabbed all the tracts the women had been carrying, tore them into pieces and threw the fragments into the air.

Chameli, Harshita and Vinaya tried to escape into another street but saw two more boys standing in front of them. When they looked around, they saw more boys standing at every possible way of escape. Soon, the mob grew to close to 30 boys surrounding them and verbally abusing them.

This went on for half an hour, and the boys did not allow the women to leave. The women called a GFA-supported district pastor, Rushil, on a mobile phone, and he came out to help them. When he arrived, the boys began to slander him as well.

But somehow Rushil was able to help the women escape to safety.

“Though this incident traumatized the sisters, they are continuing the ministry with hope that those who opposed the Gospel will come to the Lord very soon,” writes GFA’s correspondent in the area.

Women’s teams like this one can be especially effective in reaching other women with the news of Christ’s love. It can be harder for men to reach them because of cultural restrictions. These teams have touched the lives of many women, showing them their worth in Christ’s sight.

GFA leaders ask for prayer for women like Chameli, Harshita and Vinaya as they daily share the Good News of Christ, that they will have the Lord’s heart, that their opposers will be drawn to Him through their witness and for their protection as they courageously reach out in challenging areas.

Report from the Christian Telegraph

EGYPT: POLICEMEN SENTENCED TO ONLY FIVE YEARS FOR KILLING

Officers convicted of manslaughter despite evidence of deliberate murder.

ISTANBUL, June 8 (Compass Direct News) – Two policemen convicted of killing a Christian in Giza, Egypt have received only a five-year prison sentence for what lawyers are calling the cold-blooded murder of a Copt who stood up for his rights.

The Giza Criminal Court sentenced the two policemen for manslaughter on May 25 for the 2007 death of Nasser Gadallah, 39. Police say he jumped out of a window in an effort to escape, but family members who were eyewitnesses said the officers beat Gadallah and pushed him out the window in intentional murder because he was a Christian who had filed a complaint against police.

The court, however, determined Gadallah died from the officers beating him, and that they did not intend to kill him.

“The court did not punish them [more severely], because from its point of view the officers didn’t kill him,” said family lawyer Nadia Tawfeeq. “They just beat him, and when they beat him he died.”

Gadallah, a plumber, was walking home from work on Aug. 3, 2007 when a police officer, Amir Sobhi, stopped him and took all the money on him, 280 Egyptian Pounds (US$50), and his mobile phone. Recognizing Sobhi because he had previously harassed him, Gadallah filed a police report against him citing the most recent and previous extortion incidents. Sobhi was suspended from duty for four days while police investigated the report.

A source said Gadallah’s wife told him not to file the complaint, saying they did not have power and would be unable to defend themselves. In Egypt, police corruption is rampant, according to local sources.

“But it is a known fact that Copts are definitely picked on more, because they are Christian,” said a source. “They are peaceful people and simply don’t know how to ask for their rights.”

After midnight, in the wee hours of Aug. 7, 2007, two cars full of police officers, along with Police Investigations Officer Ahmed Alnawawy, arrived at Gadallah’s home but found the gate of the family apartment complex locked. The five policemen broke into the neighbor’s home and beat him before they jumped over a wall into the Gadallah home complex.

After beating Gadallah’s brothers and father, the officers broke into his third-floor apartment and beat him, and two of them threw him out a window onto the street as his wife and children looked on, according to Tawfeeq.

“In their minds, he shouldn’t have complained because he was a Copt,” said Tawfeeq.

According to Gadallah’s widow, Mariam Gadallah, who saw the officers beating her husband, one of the officers said to him, “You are Coptic. You have no value.”

“The judge didn’t believe her,” said Tawfeeq of the widow’s testimony. “You know the man is a Christian, so they did not consider it murder.”

Tawfeeq confirmed that the court gave the two policemen who threw him out the window a lenient sentence because it determined that Gadallah’s cause of death was complications due to beating.

The lawyers said that Alnawawy gave the order to the officers to kill Gadallah. According to a neighbor’s account, one of the officers ran out of the building to Alnawawy saying: “We killed the guy, we killed the guy,” said Tawfeeq.

Seeing his body on the ground, neighbors attacked one of the police cars, while some of the officers in the other vehicle managed to escape.

Although most facts and witnesses point to direct orders of Alnawawy, the court freed him of complicity, said prosecuting lawyer Naguib Gobraiel.

“There were instructions from Alnawawy,” Gobraiel said. “The police can’t do anything without him.”

Mariam Gadallah, left with three children ages 2 to 8 and no viable source of income, said she was disappointed in the court’s soft sentence and the lack of compensation to the deceased’s family.

With irritation in her voice, she said, “I think the sentence is very lenient.”

Lawyers applied for an appeal to the federal attorney general last week calling for a re-classification of the killing as “willful, premeditated, and deliberate.” Gobraiel said they also plan to also file a lawsuit against the internal minister for allowing five officers to leave their post at the police station during work hours to attack Gadallah in his home.

“I see this decision as very weak and not suitable for this crime,” Gobraiel said. “This crime is a killing, not a beating.”

Report from Compass Direct News

EXTREMISTS PLACE UNREASONABLE DEMANDS ON INDIAN CHRISTIANS

Last year, anti-Christian violence affected nearly half of India’s districts and targeted believers in 310 villages, according to the All India Christian Council, reports MNN.

The World Bible Translation Center reports that Hindu radicals have recently placed unreasonable demands on Orissa’s believers. Extremists are requiring Christians to reconvert to Hinduism, and in light of next month’s elections, vote for the Hindu fundamentalist party. Believers also must withdraw any reports of violence that were submitted to the government.

Last year’s anti-Christian violence was one of the reasons for the split between India’s ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the Hindu extremist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP); BJD was one of its oldest allies. According to the All India Christian Council (AICC), the 2008 anti-Christian violence killed nearly 60 people, including 2 pastors. Christians in over 300 villages were targeted; 4,400 houses were burned, and 50,000 people were left homeless. Nearly 20,000 individuals were injured in attacks, and two women were gang-raped; one of them was a nun. Hindu extremists now are forcing Christians in Orissa to vote for the fundamentalist party in elections beginning April 16.

Anti-Christian violence in India has continued, and Voice of the Martyrs Canada received several reports in recent weeks. On March 9, Hindu militants armed with rods and hockey sticks forced entrance to a pastor’s home in New Delhi where they beat him, his wife and son. The militants also stole 15,000 rupees ($370 CAD) and threatened to return and murder his family if he didn’t leave within a week.

On March 11, another pastor was attacked by Hindu extremists after a prayer meeting. Radicals beat the pastor and told him to stop conducting prayer meetings. He suffered fractures to his back and ribs. Pray for healing for these believers, and ask God to give wisdom to church leaders in India.

WBTC-India distributes Easy-to-Read Oriya Scripture to India’s believers. This version, written at a third grade reading level, is well-suited for those in the region who are poor and undereducated. WBTC-India provides this written Word for house churches.

Report from the Christian Telegraph

PAKISTAN: ONE WOMAN DEAD IN ATTACK ON CHRISTIANS

Would-be rapist instigates attack in response to charges leveled against him.

ISTANBUL, March 9 (Compass Direct News) – Gun and club attacks on a Presbyterian church and neighboring homes in the predominantly Christian area of a village in Pakistan last week killed one woman and left 16 people wounded.

Seeking revenge for a robbery complaint that a Christian filed against him, local Muslim Waseem Butt on March 2 led groups of his friends and family members in indiscriminate attacks aimed at the Christian community in Sangu-Wali, village, near Aroop town in Gujranwala district, reported advocacy group Sharing Life Ministries Pakistan (SLMP).

Groups of between five and 15 Muslims arriving from different directions attacked the church and area homes, said Sohail Johnson, head of SLMP. During the violence, 45-year-old Shakeela Bibi sustained bamboo rod blows to the head and died before reaching the hospital.

“The death of my wife is an irreparable loss to me and my children,” Manzoor Masih, Bibi’s husband, told SLMP. “I am concerned that Muslims are very strong here, we are poor, and we can not afford enmity with them. They will kill us too.”

Armed members of the attackers prevented ambulances from attending the scene by firing shots into the air, according to the SLMP report.

SLMP and the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS) reported that the attack followed an attempt by a Christian to file a First Instance Report (FIR) with police against two Muslims for robbery and attempted rape.

Imran Masih, 18, accused Butt and Zeeshan Butt of stealing a cell phone and 3,000 rupees (US$40) before trying to sodomize him. Masih reported that he was on his way home from work on Feb. 26 when the two Muslims attacked him, and that he managed to escape before they could rape him.

“The Christians are poor and have no weight here,” said SLMP’s Johnson, so Muslims assume, “‘We are Kashmiri, we are Muslim, we are rich – they are sweepers, they are poor, they are weak, they are the minority, how are they going to move a [criminal charge] against us?’ This was in their mind.”

The mother-in-law of the woman who was killed suffered head and spinal injuries in the attack. Naziran Bibi, 80, remained in the hospital along with two others at press time. Another 10 victims, most suffering from head injuries, were treated overnight and released the next day.

Police arrested Waseem Butt shortly after the FIR was filed, and in the past few days they have also tracked down and jailed two other suspects. Widower Masih named more than 10 people in the FIR, accusing them of murder and trespassing. The other attackers have fled the village. Police told SLMP that they will continue to pursue the fugitives and bring them to justice.

Masih, however, has come under pressure to drop the case. He has received both threats and offers for financial settlement, an official with the National Commission for Justice and Peace said. Yousaf Benjamin of the commission said Muslims “see that it is very easy for a Muslim to kill a Christian and then offer some money to the family.”

“So Mr. Manzoor [Masih] has to be an example for the others,” Benjamin said. “He should not hesitate to go for legal procedures. He should not go for the money, he should go to the court and see the decision they make.”

Disregard for the rights and liberties of minority Christians in Pakistan is worsened by a culture of bribery, which often precludes the poor from fair treatment by authorities and recourse to legal protection. But investigating police officer Mohammad Riaz has promised that officers will ask for nothing and do their utmost to help the victims.

“It was very shocking to me that the culprits trespassed in Christians’ houses and attacked females of the family,” Riaz told CLAAS and SLMP investigators.

Report from Compass Direct News