ICC Note:
A group of Christian lawyers and human rights activists have reported receiving death threats in connection to their pursuit of justice following the attack on the Christian neighborhood Joseph Colony in March of 2013. Sporadic gunfire outside of one of the lawyers homes was an attempt to scare the lawyer from continuing to oppose bail applications for people accused of attacking Joseph Colony and destroying over 200 Christian homes. Justice for Pakistani Christians is elusive due to anti-Christian biases in Pakistan’s court system and threats against those pursuing justice coming from hardline elements within Pakistan’s Sunni Muslim majority.
11/8/2013 Pakistan (Canada Free Press) – Human rights defender and campaigner Sardar Mushtaq Gill has received death threats in recent months. Sardar is the National Director of the Legal Evangelical Association Development (LEAD), a non-governmental organization in Punjab that represents marginalized people who are either falsely implicated by the police or unable to afford legal assistance.
According to a news release, the threats apparently stem from an incident that took place in March of 2013. During that time, about 200 homes, 18 shops and two churches in the Christian community of Joseph Colony were attacked, looted, burnt and destroyed by a mob consisting of over 3,000 people.
While the criminal case was registered at a police station in Bedami Bagh (Lahore), and arrests were made, a division bench of the Lahore High Court granted bail to some of the accused who were involved in the Joseph Colony incident. However, on June 4th, the association’s lawyers asked that the bail be revoked. Since then, these lawyers have been threatened by unknown individuals who are demanding the withdrawal of their opposition to the bail. Due to the severity of these threats, the human rights lawyers were unable to appear in court.
As time progressed, the situation worsened. On November 2nd, close to the vicinity where Sardar and his family live, unknown perpetrators fired random shots for almost 30 minutes. He stated in a recent news release that he received a text from his wife asking him where he was at the time as there was a shooting occurring. She fearfully warned, “Be careful. We (are) terrified…and locked the door.” As Pakistan is notorious for its controversial and very strong “anti-blasphemy” laws, Sardar has asked for prayer on behalf of his family and those of his human rights legal defense team.
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