Photo: Compass Direct

Christians narrowly escape flying bullets in Pakistan

Compass Direct News (CDN) is reporting that suspected Islamic extremists fired bullets into the car of a Christian evangelist with impunity last month, while in another Punjab Province town stray gunfire led to two Christians being falsely accused of murder, reports Dan Wooding, founder of ASSIST Ministries.

“Following a youth revival in Essa Nagri, near Faisalabad, the Rev. Kamran Pervaiz was in the passenger seat of a Toyota Corolla returning to Faisalabad with his team on June 25 when 12 armed men tried to stop their car, the pastor said. The rear window suddenly broke to pieces as bullets pierced the car,” said the CDN story.

“The driver turned into a field and turned off the engine, and the assailants sped past. Pervaiz said they were targeted because of their involvement in the Christian revival meeting; Muslim groups had warned the Christians to abort the meeting after banners and posters were displayed across Essa Nagri.”

The story went on to say at at Ghulam Muhammad Abad police station in Faisalabad, Acting Superintendent Shabir Muhammad declined to register a First Information Report on the attack due to pressure from local Muslim groups, he said. “I am trying to register the FIR, but the things are out of my control at higher levels,” Muhammad told Compass.

CDN also said that in Gujrat, by contrast, police soon arrested two young Christian men after shots fired into the air by a drunken man killed a neighbor. Saleem Masih, 22, and John Masih, 23, were “falsely accused of robbery as well as murder, a later police investigation found, and they were released.”

Their employer, Chaudhry Ashraf Gondal, had become inebriated along with friend Chaudhry Farhan on June 18, and Farhan fired gunshots into the air for fun, killing Malik Sajid, said senior superintendent of police operations officer Raon Irfan. “Ashraf bribed the SHO to arrest someone else and file charges of robbery and murder,” Irfan said.

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TAGS: Pakistan Islamic extremists Rev. Kamran Pervaiz persecution anti-Christian violence

[07/16/2010]

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