John Joseph - Bishop of Faisalabad - The Challenges of Religious Fundamentalism and Violence to Social Harmony

John Joseph - Bishop of Faisalabad
The Challenges of Religious Fundamentalism and Violence to Social Harmony

INTRODUCTION :

Let me, first of all, thank Rev. Fr. Michael T. Seigel, SVD, for inviting me to this international forum of SEDOS where so many religious superiors are going to participate. Ever since I got this invitation, I have been looking forward to this seminar, with great eagerness. I thought now the message of Jesus that all be one, let there be universal harmony, will reach every corner of the world, through the participants of this gathering, arranged by SEDOS, Rome. But the circumstances have robbed me of this joy: A Christian, Anwar Masih, accused of blasphemy was released by court but a Muslim terrorist group, Sipah-e-Sahaba, has announced that they will kill him (they had originally brought the charges against him). I have to hide him, till we find a safe place, somewhere in the world, for him and for his wife and children(he is about 35 years old).

Yesterday(27th April) Ayub Masih (Masih indicates that a person is a Christian, it is not a family name) was condemned to "hang by neck till death" and a fine of rupees one hundred thousand, just because, in a discussion with a Muslim "friend" he is supposed to have said, "If you read Salman Rushdi's book, you will come to know the true face of Islam and its prophet. "!!

This is religious fundamentalism at its extreme. Therefore, I am very grateful to SEDOS for tackling this issue which is extremely important for the humanity in our times. No matter where we live today in the world we are affected and are concerned with the activities of the fundamentalists. People are shocked when they read about the crimes of such people. They are trained and brainwashed in such a way that it is very easy for them to kill. They are not afraid of being killed either. In order to create terror and fear among people, they freely make use of violence. They go to any extremes.

MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISTS:

1. Total rejection of rationality; therefore, the fundamentalists try to popularize their beliefs after mobilizing the emotions of people.

2. Not believing in human reason, they rely on the divine power to lead humanity on the right path.
3. They are not ready to have any compromise about their beliefs.
4. As they regard themselves true, rightly guided followers of religion, they treat all others as their enemy.
5. They are ready to sacrifice their lives for the sake of their beliefs. Similarly they are also ready to kill their religious opponents as misguided people.
6. Once they monopolize the truthfulness and declare all others as sinners they loose all respect for the democratic institutions, human rights, and human values and fanatically make attempts to thrust their religious views on others even by adopting violent methods.

According to Ms. Asma Jahangir, a prominent civil rights attorney, the Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, "Islamic fundamentalists are nothing more than ruthless, violent power mongers. They know that there is a fear of modernization here among many devout people, a fear of secularism.... and they exploit that sentiment to add to their ranks."(Sennott Charles M., art. "Pakistanis underclass targets..."Boston Sunday Globe, p.21)

As in many other Muslim countries, in Pakistan too, this is the most feared form of terrorism. In January this year, a report prepared by the special branch of the police sent out a chilling warning to the .government. The report focused on the activities of a number of extremist religious groups who espouse virulently sectarian views. These organizations can turn into the biggest crime mafias that Pakistan has ever known. With criminal elements and hidden patrons backing these groups, fears are rising that their unchecked growth could well plunge Pakistan into a bout of fratricidal violence on a massive scale.

To this police report, I would add that this is already happening in Pakistan: the unchecked growth of religious terrorism. The government is afraid of them or has ulterior motives for not checking them. One reason, for example, for government's fear to act is their blind compulsion to stay in power, they are very vulnerable to black mail from their supporters. The government closes its eyes to schools where male children are taken from age five and are trained in religious hatred and in handling weapons. These little children roam about with turbans tied tightly round their heads, a symbol that they will never progress intellectually. In some of these schools the children are kept in iron chains. The first fruits of these terrorists' training centres are visible and evident. A Christian teacher, Nemat Ahmar, was killed brutally with a knife after being accused of blasphemy by a 24 year-old student. Another Christian, Gull Masih, who got the death sentence for blasphemy was accused by a 25-year-old student. A bearded and turbaned 24-year-old student entered our church on 3 April 1996 during Good Friday Services, and shouted, "The Bible is not a Holy Book. Christ is not a prophet".

The general public is afraid to react because if some one talks or acts against them, the punishment from the religious terrorists comes fast and it is terrible. Sometimes the whole family is brutally slaughtered. It creates terror. Even we priests and religious are cowed down and prefer to close our eyes hoping that the horror will pass away.

The fundamentalists want that they should return to the glorious past and to the teaching of Islam. They make a call to other Muslims for this cause. And very often their call is responded very positively. This leads to a significant religious activism. However, it is also a fact that because of their call and claims for teaching true Islam there come divisions among themselves. Different groups make claims for their truthfulness and it results in battle lines among themselves within the House of Islam. Lot of energy is spent on these domestic duels. This also affects politics.

Islam recognizes politics as a legitimate field of human endeavour. For Muslims state and religion go together and they cannot separate it. Islam lays down its own rules for the political game.

For Islam, the twentieth century began with the hope of secularism; it ends with the fear of fundamentalism. In 1924 Kamal Ataturk abolished the Sharia courts and secularized the then strongest Muslim empire on the globe, Ottoman, Turkey. In 1979 Ayatollah Khomeni led the Iranian revolution to triumph, inspiring a variety of fundamentalist trends fermenting in the Muslim world. The world of Islam looks back nostalgically at the Middle ages, when its religion and culture seemed like identical twins and the Christian West studied at its feet. It senses with frustration that Western ideals of nationalism, socialism, or capitalism, introduced into modern Muslim societies, have offered no true solutions to the manifold problems Islam faces in the technological world. With the slogans 'Islam is the solution' and 'Allah is the answer' the fundamentalists pin their hopes on the utopia of a return to an idealized early Muslim community.

Another factor which helped the fundamentalist parties to increase their influence is the repeated defeat of the Muslims at the hands of their adversaries, especially the defeat of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria by Israel. The defeat of Pakistan by India and the independence of Bangladesh and the recent defeat of Iraq in the Gulf war.

These defeats and humiliations created deep sense of helplessness and passivity among Muslims. The West emerged as the bitter enemy of the Muslim world which consequently encouraged the fundamentalist parties to reject everything from the west and present Islam as the only alternative to save them from disaster. The Muslim fundamentalist parties feel that only by following the Islamic teachings could the Muslims of the world be united to take revenge from the West and other enemies.

The uneducated crowd of poor people sympathize with those religious parties who arouse their sentiments on religious issues. In Pakistan the Anjuman Sipa-e-Sahaba and the Majlis-i-Khatm-i-Nabuwwat are such parties who occasionally raise some religious issues and make them a question of life and death. Especially in the sectarian conflicts, they find ample grounds to create religious strife. They have created a lot of trouble and tension in Pakistan. Several armed clashed have taken place and hundreds of people have been killed in such clashes. There are some militant groups in Pakistan which throw bombs in the mosques, schools, railway stations, bus stops, shopping centres and other public places. This creates a sense of terror among the people. Here sometimes one Muslim sect will accuse the other e.g. Shias vs Sunnis. At times when one incident takes place in one city tension grows in the other and counter attack is made in the other city.

Iran has played an important role in the development of Islamic fundamentalism. Many African Governments, for example, are scared of Iran and they feel Iran is helping the fundamentalists in their countries. In a speech during the opening ceremony of a seminar in Tehran, Iran, on development and cooperation in Africa, the Iranian Parliamentary Speaker, All Akbar Netegh Nouri very openly said that his country Iran will focus its efforts on reviving Islam in Africa. 'Revitalizing Islam should be one of the most important objectives of Iran's international policies.' He said that 'we have to help Africa regain its identity.' Nouri was quoted by Iranian Keyhan newspaper as telling this in the two-day seminar convened to study political, economic and cultural relations between Iran and African countries.

On March 27, 1993, Algeria broke diplomatic relations with Iran, accusing it of interference and support for terrorists. At the same time Algeria recalled its ambassador from Sudan, accusing both countries of 'interference in the internal affairs of Algeria.' and said both had 'declared support for terrorism'

VICTIMS OF FUNDAMENTALISM:

The first victims of the fundamentalist parties are the religious minorities. They direct their full wrath on these minorities and depict them as dangerous to society and country. For example, Christians and Ahmadis in Pakistan. In Iran, after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Bahais were brutally persecuted and excluded from all government jobs. In Egypt, the Coptics are the victims.

The second victims are women. They believe women are inferior to men, root of evil, weak and stupid, and without any understanding of worldly affairs.

The third victims are those people who have secular, liberal, and enlightened outlook, especially the intellectuals and the human rights' activists.

They are against the West and watch carefully their progress and activities. Whenever possible they will do acts of terrorism to get attention from the world media For them every one in the Western countries is an enemy of Islam so they support all sorts of violent or non-violent activities to fight against their enemies who are non-Muslims and westernized Muslims, as well.

To popularize their policies they use the method of Tabligh ,that is preaching. Their second method is violence. It is their belief that those who oppose them are the enemies of God. First they terrorize them to silence them; in the second stage they eliminate them which also serve as warnings to others

Those individuals who adopt secular ideas are regarded by them as Murtad/apostate and thus punishable by death. To legitimize it, the Fatwa (i.e. religious judgment) is issued in this regard which makes it obligatory on every Muslim to kill the said person. In Iran, during the Shah regime, a liberal advocate Khusrau was killed when the religious leaders sanctioned his murder. Similarly, Imam Khomeini issued the Fatwa to kill Salman Rushdie.

In Pakistan very often fatwas are issued against Christians. This happened in the case of Salamat Masih, a teenager, Manzoor Masih and Rehmat Masih, farmers in Gujranwala, Gul Masih, a small business owner in Sargodha, and Nemat Ahmer, a school teacher in Faisalabad. Nemat Ahmer was killed and so was Manzoor Masih. Salamat Masih, Gul Masih and Rehmat Masih were given death sentence by the Sessions Courts but later freed by the High Court of Lahore. Very often Islamic laws, particularly Blasphemy Laws are used against others in particular against Christians to settle personal scores and prejudices. This creates a sense of fear among the Christians.

Under the fundamentalist influence, publication of religious books increase and secular literature rapidly decreases. It also greatly affects the music, painting, sculpture, and dancing, and, also as a whole, the society loses its glamour, and violence and dullness reign supreme. This is what has happened for example in Pakistan.

For South African Archbishop Tutu, 'the real issue at hand is taking Islamic fundamentalism as a challenge and the most effective way to counter it is by deepening people's faith.' (art. Islam is Africa, in World Mission, January, 1993, PP 28-29.)

OUR RESPONSE TO THIS CHALLENGE:

ln the world today, the church will be as relevant and vibrant as the response we give to this basic issue of religious fundamentalism and violence. Sorry to say that sometimes we bishops and other church leaders, leave the wounded and dying to their own lot, and proceed to fulfill our "religious" duties as the priest and the Levite in the episode of the good Samaritan. We close our eyes and think that the blood thirsty cat of religious violence will go away by itself. No, each one of us has to get involved and play our role:

1. GET INVOLVED:

Each one of us has this obligation. Each Christian, be he a simple layman or a high ranking Cardinal, is told by Lord Jesus not to by pass a wounded (physically, morally, psychologically, socially or financially) person. Get involved even if it may be dangerous. How often has Lord Jesus told us not to be afraid. Cowards, according to the Sacred Scriptures shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Rev. 21:8).

After my arrest warrants were issued by the Islamabad Police, for leading a rally three years ago, one of my ecclesiastical big brothers told me that this happened due to my own fault. He said, we must be grateful for the liberty that we enjoy in Pakistan. Look at some of the other Muslim countries like Algeria, Sudan, Egypt etc. The fundamentalistic extremists are very strong and well organised internationally. We cannot challenge them. It is too dangerous. The Christian minority in Pakistan is too small and too weak. I said in answer, "I may be very weak, but united in the name of our Lord Jesus, we are very strong". "We live in the flesh, of course, but the muscles that we fight with are not flesh. Our war is not fought with weapons of flesh, yet they are strong enough, in God's cause, to demolish fortresses" (2 Cor 10:3,4). To this his answer (in the presence of five persons) was, "Oh, that is only in theory".

2. GET ORGANISED:

A. Our answer to violence must be interdenominational and Interreligious. Although we Catholics are a majority among the Christians in Pakistan, we would never dream of holding a rally or organising a protest without the official and full participation of the other Christian denominations in Pakistan. The representatives of all the denominations plan together, decide together and act together. It is beautiful to see the Majors and Brigadiers of Salvation Army marching along in uniforms and standing guard when we are lying down on ground in a hunger strike. It was wonderful to hear what a Protestant pastor said after my arrest warrants were issued, "Bishop if you are in prison, part of us will be in prison too. because all of us together form the body of Christ".

There are many Muslims who are convinced that each human being must contribute personally towards combating and eradicating violence and terrorism. These are individual Muslims like lawyers, professors, doctors and some journalists. We must welcome them with full confidence. Then there are Muslim human rights' groups. We must approach them and work in close co-operation with them. This is one of the secrets of the success that we have had in our struggle so far.

B. We must not forget any section of the society: The local leaders' called the head men, the women and the youth. Before starting a major action against an injustice, we consult, not only the church leaders, but also the lay people with full seriousness.

C. Organisation must be not only at local, regional and national level, but it must have strong links with international agencies which are committed to fight against all kinds of violence. We Christians of Pakistan have close ties with Amnesty International, BBC London, Media Watch New York, Human Rights Commission Canada, Australia, Switzerland, Holland, Germany, MISSIO, MISEREOR, CSI, Austria and now SEDOS, Rome. The Third World governments may not listen to the cries of their citizens but they are extremely sensitive to the opinion of the First World countries.

On 5 April 1994, four Christians accused of blasphemy were shot at. One of them was killed on the spot, the others were critically wounded, a boy of 12 years among them. The Catholic and Protestant Bishops wanted time from the President or the Prime Minister of Pakistan, but neither of them had time for us. Then we held a huge procession of clergy, laity, women and youth. We were fired at, several times, but we went through the streets of Faisalabad. BBC London took it up and only then, the President of Pakistan found time for us. The foreign embassies provide tremendous help, sometimes openly but mostly in a quiet way.

3. OUR RESPONSE MUST BE ABSOLUTELY NON-VIOLENT:

If even one stone is thrown from our procession against a window, we are not Christians and we lose every right to demonstrate against violence.

Abuses are publicly hurled at us (by name) in the public get-togethers of the fundamentalists. Our people come to tell us. We calm them down by telling them that these abuses that we get while working for peace and basic human rights are like gold medals for us. Jesus said, "blessed are you, if you are reviled for my name's sake". Under no circumstances do we permit retaliation or revenge.

The evening before a procession or a rally is to be held, we gather all the organisers of the rally and, in a Bible service, we all promise to Lord Jesus Christ that we ourselves will remain peaceful and keep others in the rally also peaceful. This promise in the Church is important for the youth, who have a tendency to retaliate. This tendency must be entirely subdued through motivation, long training and Christian commitment. We take photographs of the ceremony where with hands raised up, the organisers promise to remain orderly themselves and see to the discipline of the entire rally, in order to, permanently, remind ourselves of this most important promise.

4. COORDINATION AND COOPERATION WITH DIFFERENT NGOs:

The NGOs can be very helpful to our apostolate for peace, especially those which work for the rights of children, women, bonded labourers, brick kiln workers, workers for the landlords etc. Also the groups which are working against police torture, custodial death and imprisoning without any charge or process.

CONCLUSION: To begin concluding this paper, I quote the strong and encouraging words of the Holy Father, John Paul 11. 1 am a great admirer of the courage of the Pontiff with which he announces the true doctrine of the Church and the real message of Jesus Christ, our Saviour. He is not afraid what the third world nations will think about the social teachings of the Catholic Church. No President in the world has the guts to visit the Holy Father in uniform! The dictators of this world are scared of this man of peace and equality.

If we the Church leaders and Lay Leaders were even half as courageous as the Holy Father, the salvation of the Saviour would reach many more people of the world today. In his 1985 message of peace, addressed to the youth but equally valid for each one of us, the Holy Father writes:

The appeal I want to address to you, young men and women of today, is this: "Do not be afraid! When I look at you, I feel great gratitude and hope... The future of peace lies in your hands. To construct history, as you can and must, you must free history from the false paths it is pursuing. To do this, you must be people with a deep trust in man and a deep trust in the grandeur of the human vocation - a vocation to be pursued with respect for truth and for dignity and inviolable rights of the human person... In this situation, some of you may be tempted to take flight from responsibility. (Message for the Day of Peace, 1 January 1985, P. 8-9).

At the end, I appeal to all my brothers and sisters in Christ, please, let us leave our places and positions of safety and comfort and go to the people. Recently we, as a Christian community in Pakistan, had to fight an unjust law being introduced against the minorities. I, as a Bishop of the Catholic, Universal Church, with many Christians, in many cities, all over Pakistan, lay down on a footpath in hunger strike in front of the government offices in Faisalabad - and what is one of the most beautiful events of our national history happened then: almost all the bishops of Pakistan came and sat with us for a few hours on that footpath to show their solidarity, the Catholic bishops in white cassocks and Protestant bishops in violet cassocks. The press was impressed and the government was awed and, naturally, this solidarity won the day. The government announced that they would not introduce that law (religion column in the national Identity Card, which would make religious discrimination, not only actual, but official, and the minorities second-class citizens). The government's announcement came on Christmas, 1992. Jesus, our Saviour, broke the wall of enmity and discrimination by offering His own body (Eph. 2:13-17). He is our Peace, by His crucifixion, death and resurrection, he accomplished the MISSION he came for, "That all may be one" (Universal "Harmony") (Jn 17:21).

I shall count myself extremely fortunate, if in this mission of breaking the barriers, Our Lord accepts the sacrifice of my blood for the benefit of His people. As St. Paul wrote, "It makes me happy to suffer for you, as I am suffering now, and in my own body to do what I can to make up all that has still to be undergone by Christ for the sake of His body, the Church" (Col. 1: 24).

This is the only effective response to the ever growing phenomena of violence around us. Are we ready to take up this challenge and follow Him, carrying this cross on our own shoulder? (Mt. 1 6:24). Are we ready to drink the cup of suffering to the bitter end, as Jesus did? (Mt. 20:22). Each one of us has to formulate his or her own personal response. May the crucified and the risen Lord give us the courage to do so. Amen.

Chairman, + John Joseph,

National Commission for Justice PeaceBishop of Faisalabad.

B. Some Recent examples of Religious Violence:

1. IQBAL TAHIR, was imprisoned under 295 C, and poisoned in Lahore Jail in December 1990.

2. BANTU MASIH, was accused of Blasphemy and stabbed to death in a Lahore police station.

3. CHAND BARKAT, of Karachi was booked under 295 C, but sessions Judge, acquitted him. He has gone abroad, since then.

4. NEHAMT AHMER, a school teacher, in Faisalabad, was accused of Blasphemy and stabbed to death in January 1992.

5. SARWAR MASIH, of Sind, was booked under 295 B, acquitted and since then he is leading a hidden life, in Pakistan.

6. GUL MASIH, of Sargodha, was sentenced to death under 295 C, January 1993, later acquitted by Lahore High Court. He lives abroad.

7. ANWAR MASIH, of Sammundri, booked under 295 C, February 1993. Since then he is in jail. At this moment he is with us, free at least.

8. HABIB MASIH, of Sheikhupura, was booked under 295 B. The case is still going on.

9. MANZUR, SALAMAT AND REHMAT MASIH, were booked under 295 C. They were shot at, near the High Court Building, Lahore. Manzur Masih died on the spot, Salamat & Rehmat were seriously injured. They received death sentence (Salamat was only 12 years old, at that time), later acquitted by Lahore High Court. Since then they are abroad.

10. CATHERINE SHAHEEN, a school teacher in Multan. She was accused of Blasphemy in June 1995. Since then she has not received her pay, she is hiding because some fundamentalists have sworn to kill her. We are helping her and her parents financially.

11. CAROL SHAKEEL, a fourteen years old (girl) student of class nine, Sukhar, Sind. Accused of blasphemy, was forced to become Muslim by 225 IVlaulivis who had signed a document to kill her.

12. MUKHTAR MASIH, accused of blasphemy, killed by police in a Lahore police station, in November 1995.

13. Nelson Rahi, a stenographer in General Hospital, Rawalpindi, booked under 295 B, and imprisoned. He is out on bail, the case is still going on.

14. AYUB MASIH, of Arif wala, Sahiwal, booked and imprisoned under 295 C, in October 1996, shot at in the premises of Sessions Court, Sahiwal, in November 1997.He is condemned to death. We are appealing in the High Court against this decision.

A FEW EXAMPLES OF VIOLENCE BY POLICE AND TERRORISTS:

1. Sr. Susanne, O.P was shot and killed by a terrorist on 11th August 1988, in Bahawalpur.

2. Fr. Cvprian Dias, OFM was shot and killed by terrorists on 11th September 1988 in Karachi.

3. Nazir Masih, a Christian young man was tortured and killed in a Faisalabad police station in 1993.

4. The watchman of the Maltese sisters was shot and wounded in Chak 90/9-L, Sahiwal, in 1993.

5. Emmanuel Dina of Chak 424, Gojra, was abducted from his home and killed by Gojra police in 1995.

6. The driver of Asma Jehangir, was beaten up and her car smashed on 16th February 1995, because she was defending Salamat and Rehmat accused of 295 C.

7. Javed Masih of Hyderabad was horribly tortured and killed on 4th August 1995, by Hyderabad police.

8. Anwar Masih of Chak 232, Bavewala was tortured and killed by Faisalabad police on Christmas 1996.

9. A Christian family including women and children, were mercilessly beaten up on 20th April 1997, in a village near Burewala.

JUST A FEW RECENT EXAMPLES OF ABDUCTION AND RAPE OF CHRISTIAN GIRLS:

1. Razia Bibi of Hyderabad was so brutally gang-raped by police in April 1996, that she was very seriously injured. Christians (and some Muslims) from all over Pakistan protested.

2. Shahida Mughal, a student in Faisalabad was kidnaped by the Headmaster of that school. He forged false marriage certificate in April 1996. We have managed to get the girl back. The court case is going on.

3. Asia Parveen of Dabhan Singh Mandi, Shiekhupura, a class six student, was raped by a land lord on 16th October 1996. We are still fighting the case.

4. Nasreen Daniel of Sahiwal, a minor, was kidnaped in August 1996 and recovered in November 1996. The court case is still going on.

5. Shameem Akhtar, a minor was raped on 21st October 1996, in Chak Goga. Toba Tek Singh. The culprit was so powerful, that it took the combined force and of the Parish Priest and the Diocesan Commission for Women. to get him arrested.

6. Samina Inayat, of BIR 1 5/4-L, Sahiwal was kidnaped in September 1997, by a professional criminal who was backed by a Member of the National Parliament of the ruling party. It took us 2 months to get her back. She is only 15 years old. She is now attending sewing classes in the Women Shelter Sewing School. She looks happy here.

A FEW EXAMPLES OF CHURCHES' DESECRATION:

1. Rahim Yar Khan, Multan, Church was destroyed in 1986 so thoroughly by the students of Jamait-e-lslami, that the Christians all over Pakistan were shocked. In order to stop our public protests, the government had to apologize publicly.

2. The main Catholic Church in Peshawar was stoned by fundamentalistic Muslims in November 1990. The Christians protested strongly all over Pakistan and the government apologized.

3. The Parish Church of Sat Chak, Faisalabad was desecrated by a Maulvi, during Good Friday service on 5th April, 1996. Later, while hearing this case, the High Court Judge asked the advocate, "How could the Maulvi remain alive, while at that moment 2500 Christians were present in the Church"? The advocate, a Muslim, answered, "It is their doctrine of non-violence, that saved the Maulvi".

4. Shantinagar Tragedy: February 1997 will ever remain a black month for the Christians of Pakistan. Fourteen Churches and over a thousand Christian houses were destroyed. The gardens and the crops were cut down. The udders of the buffaloes and cows belonging to Christians in that area were slashed, all in the name of religion.

5. Chapianwali, Chak 182, Toba Tek Sing Church: On 23rd December 1997, a Christian young man was whitewashing the Church. It was 10:00 a.m. He had a Christmas cassette playing over the tape recorder. The Maulvi of the village, came on his motor cycle, right in the Church; beat up the Christian boy, threw down the Bible, and smashed the Crucifix and broken the legs of the figure of Jesus in three places and till today the broken body of Jesus is lying under the wooden cross, where the Maulvi has thrown it. We shall keep it there, till we get justice from the government. The highest police officer of Faisalabad Division, told us on 9th January (1998) that the police will take appropriate action . We are waiting. If the Christians are not satisfied, our next step will be well planned, fully coordinated and very strong. For that we shall need your prayerful active cooperation -- from each one of you.

SHOT-GUN CONVERSION OF A MINOR:

Yesterday (13-1-98), the Parish Priest of Gojra phoned me that he had with him Dial Masih of Chak 182, Chapianwali(Where the Church was recently desecrated) And Amar Masih, his 13 years old son. The boy was working in the poultry form of Muhammad Naveed who put their holy book, Quran, on the head of the boy and said, now you have become a Muslim. If you ever call yourself a Christian again, I shall shoot you. I have written your name on this bullet.

BOMB BLAST IN A CHURCH:

FAISALABAD. March, 15: Dr. John Joseph, Catholic Bishop of Faisalabad has expressed strong indignation and resentment over the bomb explosion on 6th March, 1998 in the compound of St. Peter's Hunter Memorial Church, Sialkot and said that the Christian community cannot be silenced by such cowardly acts of terrorism.

In a statement issued here Sunday, he said that Christian community has taken a serious notice of this explosion. It is the first bomb blast in any church premises, in Pakistan. "We want to see it as the last bomb explosion", he said.

About the objective of this explosion, Bishop said that the terrorists probably wanted to convey a message to cancel prayer services for the disease ridden people scheduled to be held in the middle of this month. 'They wanted that prayers should not be offered for the sick because Muslims have also started visiting these prayer meetings and are getting healed". he said.

Dr. John Joseph said that such Acts of terrorism cannot frighten us and we shall expose these acts at national and international level. "It is the duty of the government to protect the property and the lives of its citizen and the government must fulfill its legal and moral obligations", he said.