Christian Village Attacked in Pakistan - Field Report

By: Asif Aqeel, Executive Director
Community Development Initiative (CDI)

On June 30, 2009, more than 500 Muslims attacked about 135 Christian families in a small village in Kasur, Pakistan. The mob beat Christian women and children as most of the men were working in the fields. They also damaged personal property and stole valuables belonging to the Christians.

The Community Development Initiative (CDI) contacted the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ) seeking assistance. The following report is from CDIs Asif Aqeel, detailing their work to help the Christian community in Kasur, Pakistan:

Community Development Initiative Report
We are thankful to Jesus for allowing us to serve our brothers and sisters in Kasur who were attacked by Muslims. CDI is acting in an administrative capacity to provide the victims with humanitarian and legal assistance with the help of our partners, the ACLJ.

A fight between two families initiated the attack
The attack was initiated when a Muslim, Muhammad Hussain, beat a Christian field worker, Sardar Masih (37), on June 29, in Bahmaniwala village in Kasur. Masih asked Hussain to move his motorbike from the middle of the road to allow Masih to pass through on his tractor. Hussain asked how a churha (sweeper/janitora derogatory term particularly used for Punjabi Christians belonging to low castes) could tell him what to do. Hussain started beating Masih. About eight family members rushed to the scene where a crowd had gathered. After a brief exchange of words, the Masih family returned to their home. Later, Husseinalong with 15 to 20 menattacked their house. Armed with hatchets, the assailants delivered blows to the Masihs heads, causing severe bleeding. The Christian family bravely defended themselves, and Hussain and his accomplices fled with some injuries.

A village official warned the Masihs not to report the incident to police, giving the assailants the opportunity to report it and register a case alleging that the Masih family beat them for wrongly parking the motorbike. When the Christians went to the police, they were ignored and informed that another party had already registered the First Information Report (FIR). The injured Christians went to Kasur Civil Hospital and were forced to sit outside the hospital without treatment for the entire night while the Muslim family had already been treated. In the morning, the Muslim doctors stitched their woundswithout anesthesia.

Attack on the village
While the Masihs were at the hospital, hundreds of Muslim villagers, incited by a fanatic cleric, accused the Christians of blaspheming Islam. A violent Muslim mob rampaged through the Christians houses, setting fires, destroying property, stealing family savings and valuables, and beating Christian women.

CDIs visit
CDI learned about the incident on July 1 and immediately dispatched a team to the village to record the damage, assess the victims needs, and strategize. By evening, we had informed the ACLJ of the incident. Before we provided legal assistance, these people needed humanitarian assistance, as they were without food, electricity, and water. Their cooking utensils, fans, water turbines, and electricity meters were demolished. When we arrived, Muslims were announcing that Christians should be cut off from groceries and other businesses, all of which are Muslim-owned. The police in the village did nothing to deter this. CDI members immediately engaged to ease and calm down both sides. We engaged politicians, civil administration, police, government officials, presidency, the American consulate, clergy, and others.

Electricity restored
CDI has been part of the negotiations and meetings with the government officialssuch as the managing director of the Water and Power Development Authorityto restore electricity to 110 families. It can take months to install a new electricity meter, but CDI managed to procure the installation of new meters only three days after this incident.

Provision of food
Immediately after the attack, Christian families were left without food because the attackers destroyed or stole everything they found in Christian homes. On July 2, CDI began distribution of food to the victims. We provided meals for four days so that the families could recover from the shock and restart their normal, everyday lives. Five days after the attack, Rochester Christian Church Ministries of Pakistan collected an offering at the Sunday service to feed the families that night. Tariq Saleem, Pastor of the Rochester Church, told Napoleon Qayyum, a CDI member, that he had been visiting the area for four days and has seen CDI members working in practical ways to aid the victims. CDI has a staff of only three members, and preparing and distributing food was a gigantic task. The students from our English language class volunteered to help in the distribution.

Generating pressure through local politicians
Immediately upon learning of this attack, we at CDI contacted Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Members of Provincial Assembly Chaudhry Ahmed Ali Tholu and Muhammad Yaseen to accompany us to the area. CDI staff members were also able to talk to local Muslim leadership. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, a PPP official, announced from the mosque that the incident was shameful and that all shops should start selling groceries to Christians.

Meetings with the police officials
CDI also put pressure on the local police to deal with the matter properly. We spoke with the District Police Officer (DPO), Muhammad Shahzad Sultan, who is in charge of the police in the Kasur district.

On July 4, we invited Dr. Amna Buttar, Member of the Provincial Assembly, to visit the area. That evening, two CDI members, Dr. Buttar, Father Parvaiz Raza, and another church official all met with the DPO at his office. The DPO told them that he had taken all measures toward reconciliation. He said the FIR of the incident had not been registered because Muslims were demanding a blasphemy case to be filed against the Christians. He said that several government officials had visited the area and suggested that this matter should be taken care of quickly and quietly, since exasperating the situation would only jeopardize Christiansthere are only 137 Christian families in the area while more than a million Muslims reside in Kasur. He said that if it became public that the police had not registered the blasphemy case against the Christians, then controlling the Muslims would be impossible.

The DPO said that the best option was reconciliation between the Muslim and Christian communities. CDI staff members informed the DPO that Christians were promoting peace, but some Muslim residents remained hostile. For example, infidel had been inscribed on the back of a CDI vehicle. We at CDI informed the DPO that despite jeers and revengeful attitudes from the Muslims, we were continuing to provide relief in the village.

On July 7, CDI staff members Napoleon Qayyum and Simon Moses, along with the Masih family and their attorney, Sardar Fakhir, met the DPO regarding the dismissal of the false charges that were initially filed against the Masih family. The DPO said that he had told the area police to quash the FIR. He added that the FIR could only be dismissed after the medical report of the injured persons arrived. We also went to Arshad Sahi, the area police Station House Officer (SHO), who said that the Muslim complainants were unwilling to pursue their case. He stated that he would dismiss the case. However, the SHO did not fulfill this promise, and the case has gone to the court.

Engaging the American Consulate
CDI also reported the incident to the U.S. Consulate in Lahore and is constantly updating the concerned staff.

Compensation by the Government
Thus far, the Kasur district government has given each victimized family a check for 20,000 rupees ($250 U.S.), while the Provincial governments Human Rights Minister, Kamran Michael, has given each family 100,000 rupees ($1,250). Next week, the families will receive 100,000 rupees ($1,250) from the Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti. We believe this compensation became possible because the Christian NGOs raised their voices against this injustice. Father Parvaiz Raza, a priest at the local church, told us that 25 families have yet to be compensated. We are working to ensure that they are compensated for their losses as well. So far, only 57 families have been compensated; others are still waiting.

Suo Moto Notice by the Lahore High Court
The Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court took suo moto (on his own motion) notice of the incident and called the DPO to present his report. The DPO appeared before the Court on July 10 and stated that his office is trying to facilitate a situation of harmony and peace through reconciliation between both sides. He also informed the Court that the government is compensating the affected Christians.

Conclusion
The situation is still tense. However, the immediate presence of the Christian organizations, churches, and political figures served to deter further violence. Local Muslims in the area did not foresee the support that has reached the Christian community. The police have registered only one case that was initially filed by the Muslims against Christians. The FIR only states the version reported by the Muslim family who started the fight. The CDI has asked the police to also register the Christians version. As from all quarters, efforts are for reconciliation.

The local church and the authorities think that the charges against the Christian family should be dropped and the matter should not be further prolonged for the sake of safety. CDI hopes that this goal will be achieved within days. The local clergy and most of the local Christians have said that they are not willing to take legal action in response to the violence and looting, mainly because they cannot afford to do so; the community is very poor, barely able to subsist from day to day. Lengthy court proceedings in lieu of working every day would cripple their ability to provide for their families. CDI stands by the local church and the Christian community in their decision not to pursue the case, especially when the government is compensating their loss. However, CDI will stand with the Masih family if the government does not drop the false charges that were initially filed against them.

CDIs intervention was made possible through the support of the ACLJ. We are thankful to the ACLJ for standing beside us in this matter.