Date:                March 30, 2007

Institution official denies that Christian inmates were refused access to worship room.

by Peter Lamprecht

ISTANBUL, March 30 (Compass Direct News) – More than 160 Christian prisoners ended a two-day hunger strike last week after authorities in Pakistan’s Punjab province permitted them to resume religious services, a non-governmental organization worker said. Staff members at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Central Jail agreed on March 22 to reopen a laundry room that had served for Christian services until authorities filled it with new inmates earlier this month, Sohail Johnson of Sharing Life Ministries Pakistan (SLMP) told Compass. Adiala Deputy Superintendent Noor ul Haq Hassan denied to Compass that Christians had been refused access to their worship room or that a hunger strike had taken place, but according to Johnson, Christian inmates had not been able to use the prayer room for more than a week when they began their hunger strike on March 21. He said jail official Saifullah Gondal “wanted to send a message to the Christians that this was not their church or chapel, just a laundry hall,” said Johnson, whose SLMP works with Christian prisoners throughout Punjab.