Source: http://rlprayerbulletin.blogspot.com/
Date: August 23, 2023
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 707
PAKISTAN: THE JARANWALA POGROM
By Elizabeth Kendal
On Wednesday morning 16 August a riotous mob of up to 10,000 fanatical Muslims descended on the Christian colony in Jaranwala, a city on the eastern edge of Faisalabad District, in restive, densely populated Punjab Province. Fortunately, as Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) reports (16 Aug), ‘Christians from Jaranwala began leaving their homes as early as 5am [that] morning after local Muslims warned them an attack was coming.’ Resident Shakil Masih told Reuters (16 Aug) that he fled with his family as soon as he heard announcements [allegedly from mosque loudspeakers] inciting the mob and then saw crowds heading towards his Christian area.
Morning Star News (MSN) reports (18 Aug) that the rioting began after Muslim residents of Cinema Chowk in Jaranwala accused Umar (Rocky) Saleem Masih and his brother Umair (Raja) Saleem Masih of desecrating pages of the Qur’an and writing blasphemous comments. The brothers work as cleaners and are members of a Full Gospel Assemblies church. A relative told MSN that Rocky was leaving for work on Wednesday morning when he saw a piece of paper with something written in red ink pasted on the door of a Muslim neighbour. ‘When he went closer to read it, he was shocked to see a photograph of him and his younger brother Umair, alias Raja, pasted on top of the page. Beneath the page were some partially burnt pages of the Qur’an inscribed with derogatory remarks about Islam and Muhammad.’ Rocky panicked and instinctively removed the pages from the door. As if on cue, two Muslims pounced on him, snatching the pages and accusing him of committing blasphemy. As the relative notes: ‘The allegation is ridiculous – otherwise who would name himself and his brother as the writers of the note and also put their photo on it? Someone has framed them to exact revenge.’ Similarly, provincial police chief Usman Anwar told Reuters (19 Aug) that the one of the pages ‘carried the names, addresses and national identity card numbers of the accused’, adding that police were investigating as to why the names and addresses would be attached.
Recommended: The National (20 Aug).
Christian families return to their burnt-out homes.
Report by Muhammad Shahid.
During the 10-hour-long pogrom, some 500 homes were looted and ransacked, while more than 80 were torched. At least 20 churches were looted and ransacked, while at least five – including the Salvation Army Church, the United Presbyterian Church, the Allied Foundation Church and the Shehroonwala Church – were torched. Property was dragged out of churches and homes and burned in the streets before cheering mobs. A Christian cemetery was vandalised, and the office of Shaukat Masih, a Christian assistant police commissioner in Jaranwala was torched. Videos show an overpowered police force acting more like spectators. A ‘Section 144’ – which restricts movement and prohibits the assembly of four or more people in an area – was imposed on Faisalabad district for seven days (expires today, Wed 23 Aug).
Police have arrested Rocky and Raja Masih and registered a First Information Report (FIR) against them under sections 295-B and 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code. Section 295-B criminalises any wilful damage or desecration of the Qur’an or an extract therefrom. Section 295-C states: ‘Whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representation or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.’ In 1990, Pakistan’s Federal Shariah Court ruled that the death penalty should be mandatory.
Noman Masih
(Morning Star News via defense counsel)
If Rocky and Raja Masih are condemned to death for blasphemy, they would join the likes of Noman Masih (22) a Christian from Bahawalpur, Punjab, who, on Tuesday 30 May, was deemed guilty of blasphemy and sentenced to death under section 295-C despite a total absence of evidence (MSN, 31 May). They would join Ashfaq Masih (34) a Christian mechanic in Lahore, who on 4 July was deemed guilty of blasphemy under section 295-C and sentenced to death by hanging on the testimony of a Muslim mechanic (a competitor) who, the judge said, ‘would not spin a story in this regard’. They would join the ailing Pastor Zafar Bhatti (57) – Pakistan’s longest serving blasphemy prisoner who has been holed up in Adiala Central Jail, Rawalpindi, since July 2012. In 2017, Pastor Bhatti had been sentenced to life imprisonment rather than death precisely because, as the judge admitted, there was ‘no concrete evidence’ against him. Despite that, on 3 January 2022, a court upgraded Zafar Bhatti’s sentence, from life imprisonment to death. [For the latter two cases see: RLPB 653, Death for Blasphemy, 13 July 2022]. [NOTE: The name ‘Masih’ simply means Messiah and identifies the person as Christian.]
NOTE: It could well be that a jealous, competitive, or angry Muslim framed Rocky and Raja Masih ‘to exact revenge’. In fact, a local resident told The National (20 Aug), that the brothers were having trouble with a visa consultant who took money for visas which he did not obtain and was now refusing to return the funds. Regardless, the response indicates that Islamist clerics exploited the opportunity to take ‘revenge’ on Christians in general, possibly in response to Qur’an burnings elsewhere. A government source told Reuters (16 Aug), that the pogrom was led by Islamic clerics, most of whom are known to be associated with Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), a radically Islamist political party dedicated to ‘safeguarding Islamic values’.
Pakistani Islamists have been out in force since early July, protesting and issuing threats against Christians, after the Swedish government allowed Iraqi refugee Salwan Momika (an ethnic Assyrian whom Western mainstream media is describing as Christian, despite him describing himself as atheist) to burn a Quran in a public protest. On Sunday 2 July the Lahore-based terror group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) announced that it will attack Christians and churches in Pakistan in retaliation for the Qur'an burning incident in Sweden. The very next Friday, 7 July, Pakistan observed a day of protests over the incident and TLP chief Saad Hussein Rizvi urged Pakistan to declare war on Sweden. Tensions are also soaring in Iraq, where remnant Christians are likewise exceedingly vulnerable. Meanwhile, the Swedish Security Service has raised the terrorist threat level from level 3 (‘elevated’) to level 4 (‘high’) on a 5-level scale warning that Sweden and Swedish interests abroad are now a ‘prioritised target for terrorist attacks’.
PLEASE PRAY THAT OUR MERCIFUL GOD WILL:
- protect, comfort, sustain and provide for the Christians who lost homes, belongings and all sense of security in the Jaranwala pogrom. May they all be able to say with the Psalmist: ‘But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.’ (Psalm 3:3)
- redeem this wickedness and turn it to good for the benefit of the Church in Pakistan. May reform be forthcoming. May multitudes of Pakistani Muslims be awakened to the dangers of intolerant, fundamentalist Islam – and in rejecting it, may many embrace the beautiful way of Jesus Christ. May those who walk in darkness, see the light! (Isaiah 9:1-7) May Christ continue to build his Church in Pakistan.
- secure justice for the Christian victims of Pakistan’s infamous blasphemy law: for those who have been driven from their homes; for those who are currently languishing in prison; and especially for those who have been sentenced to death – including Noman Masih (22), Ashfaq Masih (34) and the long-suffering and ailing Pastor Zafar Bhatti (57). Lord have mercy.
‘Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you. (From Jeremiah’s prayer in Jeremiah 32:17-25 ESV)