Christians Under Attack

By Jawad Mazhar
Correspondent for ANS, reporting from Pakistan

LAHORE, PAKISTAN (ANS) -- Several Pakistani Muslims who recently participated in the marriage ceremony organized by a well-to-do Muslim man, allegedly heavily drank alcohol, vomited and then ransacked and desecrated a nearby church.

ANS has learned that the situation escalated at St. Mary’s Church, located in St Mary’s Christian Colony Gullberg III, Lahore, after a local affluent Muslim man, on April 27th, requested Salamat Masih Bhatti, Chairman of the St. Mary’s Church Committee, to rent out to him the Church’s community hall for the wedding ceremony of his relative.

There are almost 500 Christian homes at St Mary’s Christian Colony, ANS learnt and Bhatti maintained that residents of St Mary’s Colony had pooled funds and with that, they had constructed a small but beautiful worship place to pray and praise Jesus Christ.

He said that, with the consent of all the church committee members, it was unanimously decided to rent out the hall “for the wedding ceremony only” on condition that they did not “drink or play vulgar music in the holy Christian place of prayer and worship”.

But the guests, ANS has learnt, did not comply with the principle and violated the rule by drinking and dancing in the Church hall, which is taboo according to Islamic teachings and traditions of Pakistan.

The church committee unsuccessfully tried to stop the drunken wedding participants enter the church and desecrate it. The men apparently then hurled threats of dire consequences and death on Christians in case the church committee members tried to approach the police.

Miraj Masih told ANS that they submitted an application for the registration of a case against the wealthy Muslim and his guests at the local police station, but to no avail.

“At last we decided to record our protest in front of a private new television namely; Express TV”, Assistant Pastor of the Church Rev. Mubarik Masih said. “Express News TV recorded our protest and slogans but after immense political pressure from the wealthy Muslim, they decided not to broadcast it.”

Bhatti added that the wealthy Muslim had pressured the Rev. Masih to withdraw his application for a case to be brought against the rich Muslim him and other guests and they (the police) had failed to provide justice and security to the local Christians.

Khalid Gill, the President of the Christian Lawyers’ Foundation (CLF) and the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) condemned the show-down against Christians which he said were “considered soft religious and socio-economic targets in Pakistan”.

Gill said that hapless Church committee had no choice but to withdraw the application in the best interest of all the Christian residents of St Mary’s Colony and St Mary’s Church, Lahore.

Ferhan Mazher, Chairman of “Rays of Development Organization”, a Christian rights and advocacy group, said if the situation would have been vice versa the Muslims would have torched, gutted and reduced to ashes the whole Christian colony.