27 February 2008
Pakistan: Convert or die
PAKISTAN’S leading Catholic prelate has called on the new government to crack down on extremists after warning of a rise in militant groups which threaten to kill Christians if they do not convert to Islam.
In a statement coinciding with last week’s presidential elections, Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha of Lahore described the growing “hatred and intolerance” of groups whom, he said, were contravening Pakistan’s constitution by trying to force Christians to turn to Islam (Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha of Lahore examining the remains of a presbytery in Sangla Hill destroyed during extremist violence)
Archbishop Saldanha, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan, highlighted the case of a young Catholic father of four who was kidnapped and threatened with death.
The kidnapping followed his promotion to bank manager, which is said to have sparked jealousy among his colleagues.
During his captivity, last month, the banker, whom the Archbishop calls Haroon, was ordered to phone his wife and tell her that he would be killed if she dared to inform the police.
Mr Haroon, from Narang, 30 miles north of Lahore, in Pakistan’s north-eastern Punjab Province, only escaped after his captors left him unguarded one morning.
By then, he had been moved to a number of different locations, finally ending up in a farmhouse 300 miles from Lahore in the south of the province.
His kidnappers, Jamaat-ul-Dawah, have been branded a terrorist organisation by the UK, Pakistan and other countries.
Stressing how religious freedom is enshrined in Pakistan’s constitution, Archbishop Saldanha called on the government to crack down on extremism.
He wrote: “Haroon’s story illustrates a new trend that underlines the difficulties and pressures of living in a land where extremism is growing and there is little tolerance for people who are non-Muslims.
“Especially Christians who live in remote and isolated towns are vulnerable. Here the level of hatred and intolerance is even more intense.
“Fortunately Haroon is an educated man and strong in his Catholic faith. He was able to resist his attackers.”
The Archbishop described how after his escape from captivity, Mr Haroon managed to reach the main road and take a bus to town where he found his way to a Catholic mission station.
In the message, sent from his office in Lahore, Archbishop Saldanha goes on to describe the plight of Christian girls who are abducted and forced to marry Muslim boys and change their religion.
These events follow warnings issued by Archbishop Saldanha last May that Muslim extremists were now trying to force Christians to convert by threatening violence.
In an interview with Aid to the Church in Need, the Archbishop highlighted a case where about 500 Christians had received anonymous letters warning of violent retribution if mass conversion to Islam did not follow within 10 days.
At the time, Archbishop Saldanha said: “It distresses us that Christians are threatened in an attempt to force them to convert to Islam. This is something that has never happened before.”
He added, “We Christians are citizens, just like everyone else, and wish to have the same rights.”
Helping Christians in Pakistan is a priority for Aid to the Church in Need, where annually the charity provides over $850,000 to support key projects – seminarians, sisters, catechists and religious education literature (Bibles and Catechisms) in the national tongue Urdu and provincial languages.
After the violence unleashed following the 2006 prophet Mohammed cartoon controversy, ACN offered support for repairs to churches and other buildings which were fire-bombed.
The charity also helped increase security at Christ the King Major Seminary, in Karachi after they were warned of a possible attack by Islamic extremists.
Editor’s Notes:
Directly under the Holy See, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity – helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.
Founded in 1947 by Fr Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named “An Outstanding Apostle of Charity”, the organisation is now at work in about 145 countries throughout the world.
The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, 45 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.
To help the work of the Church in Pakistan please contact the Australian office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web:www.aidtochurch.org
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