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How Pakistani police opened fire on Christian protesters

Persecution of the Christian minorities in Pakistan has taken a new dimension, this time the Police in Sargodha opened fire on defenseless Christian protesters who were protesting the wrong done to them by the Police, reports Success Kanayo Uchime, special to ASSIST News Service.

The ugly incident occurred when a Police Inspector, Muhammad Afzal Lalli, a radical Muslim, was leading a drug bust in Sargodha and in the process two suspects hid in the home of a Christian widow.

Narrating his ordeal the son of the widow, Arif Masih, told International Christian Concern (ICC) that at that time this happened, none of them were at home, hence a close relative of theirs had passed away and all of the family members had gone to their residence for mourning.

Arif who is an employee of the Pakistan Air Force said that the Police followed the suspects into their house, broke open the door without a search warrant. "In our absence Factory Area Police not only broke door locks of our residence, but they took my wife's gold jewelry and 20,000 Rupees cash ($283).”

He noted that when news of the police raid spread through the largely Christian neighborhood, approximately 300 young men flooded the streets to protest, burning tires on a main road and shouting slogans against the police adding that the Police Inspector and several policemen returned and opened fire on the Christian protesters.

“When the crowd did not disperse, the officers charged the Christians and began beating protesters with their batons. The officers seized Arif and another young man, Azher Masih, and dragged them to the police van. The two men were later released,” he added.

Arif said that when this occurred, the crowd lost control and began throwing bricks and stones at the police and that the officers called for backup, and an additional law enforcement team known as the Elite Force arrived to help put down the protest. According to an ICC correspondent in Sargodha, he overheard one of the members of this Elite Force say, "How dare these Chooras, (literally meaning), "street sweepers"; a pejorative term for Christians protest against the police," and that for about three hours the police went back and forth with the infuriated mob.

Arif noted that what saved the situation was the quickly intervention of a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Malik Manzoor Awan and a Christian representative, Mr. Farrukh Tanvir, who then appealed to both the police and the angry mob of Christians to cool down.

“DSP Awan promised the Christians that justice would be served and that the police officers responsible for the raid would be prosecuted. Police then formed a committee to investigate the incident,” he also said.

In his own contribution, the ICC's Regional Manager for South Asia, Samuel Wallace, said, "While we cannot condone everything this Christian mob did, it is important to understand how pervasive Pakistani society's oppression of Christians is. Christians are constantly harassed, pushed down, and mocked, and rarely get justice from the authorities. It is the Pakistani government's responsibility to ensure that such riots do not happen by treating minorities fairly."

He stated: “In reporting this incident, however, all the Pakistani print and electronic media portrayed the event in a prejudiced manner by concealing the facts and claiming that "all Christians are drug runners."

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TAGS: Pakistan police opened fire Christian protesters persecution anti-Christian violence

[02/23/2009]

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