Pakistan: Pakistani Christian Girl Raped, Another Christian Gets Death Sentence, Page 4

Fear is Way of Life for Pakistani Christians

During October the Washington-DC area got a taste of the fear that Pakistani Christians face everyday. With a serial sniper on the loose, DC area residents kept their children close and avoided outdoor activities, never knowing when or where the sniper might strike next. Pakistani Christians live under the same fear, but in their case victims are not randomly selected. Christians are purposely targeted by Islamic extremists for no other reason than their faith in Jesus Christ and an assumed connection with "the West." While police officers and FBI agents spent countless hours tracking down clues until they captured the sniper suspects, Pakistani police have proven unwilling or incapable of finding the majority of those responsible for perpetrating 5 deadly attacks against Christians in the last year, leaving 39 dead and over 75 wounded. And while the sniper attacks were carried out by two deranged individuals, attacks on Christians are organized by whole groups of extremists; groups which, unfortunately, are gaining popular support.

The most recent attack on Christians in Pakistan occurred September 25th in Karachi. Seven Christians working for the Adara Aman-o-Insaf (Peace and Justice Institute), a human rights organization, were brutally murdered by two armed men who shot the Christians in the head at point blank range. Six of the men died instantly. Another died awhile later at a Karachi hospital. An eighth victim who was shot in the head miraculously survived and has slowly recovered. Instead of hunting down the militant Muslims responsible for the crime, police held one of the office workers, Robin Peranditta, for almost a month. Already beaten by the attackers, Robin was then tortured by police to extract evidence. The Sindh High Court intervened and ruled that his detention was illegal. Despite this ruling, police forcibly re-arrested Robin as he was leaving the Court premises. He was released a short while later.

Already tense from the Karachi murders and four other deadly attacks since last year, Pakistani Christians' fears were heightened in October as a result of the country's parliamentary elections, in which a hard-line Islamic party made significant gains. The Muttahida Majlas-i-Amal (MMA), an alliance of six clerical parties, won 20% of the parliamentary seats and was elected the majority party in two regions _ the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) bordering Afghanistan and the Balochistan province bordering Iran. Known as open supporters of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban regime, the MMA has publicly called for the imposition of Islamic shariah law in Pakistan. Some Christians in NWFP and Balochistan have already considered migrating to friendlier areas of the country or even overseas. A Pakistani human rights leader told ICC: "The future picture looks very bleak and gruesome in Pakistan. The religious minorities find that their plight will further be made miserable." Islamic extremist groups are reportedly already meeting with MMA politicians in Islamabad and promoting a candidate for Prime Minister.

Washington-DC area residents are grateful to God that they no longer have to live in constant fear of attack. Pray that Pakistani Christians will receive the same blessing.

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Laskar Jihad Disband But Christians Still in Danger

Daring Steve beside jihad warriors

As a result of the October 12 terrorist attack on a Bali nightclub, the Indonesian government has finally been forced to crack down on terrorist groups. Not surprisingly, around the same day as the Bali attack, the Laskar Jihad (LJ) decided to disband. The Laskar Jihad, the group mainly responsible for terrorizing the Christians of Maluku and central Sulawesi, was founded in 2000 with the goal of "driving the Christians into the sea." This goal was largely accomplished through a series of deadly attacks on Christian villages in which homes and churches were burned and Christians were shot and slashed with machete knives. Rumors abound as to the exact reason for the disbanding. The official reason given by the LJ leadership is that a Saudi Arabian cleric ruled that the jihad in Maluku is over and therefore, the LJ is no longer needed. Others have posited that the LJ simply ran out of money.

ICC contacts confirm that over 1,000 LJ warriors from Java packed up and left Maluku and Central Sulawesi on October 15 and 16 respectively. We praise God for this miracle! However, it is important to note that Indonesian Christians are not yet out of danger. There are still thousands of Muslims living in Maluku and central Sulawesi who have received jihad training and participated in past attacks. These jihad warriors live locally and have no plans to leave. There is also the possibility that former LJ members will be absorbed into other Islamic militant groups. Perhaps the Laskar Jihad may have returned to Java in advance of the national elections in two years or simply gone underground to avoid being labeled as an international terrorist group.

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POSTED:  December 9, 2002