Pak: Threats to Christians during Holy Week *Sudan bombs Churches & forces Christians out

Pakistan, April 03, 2012: In Eidgah Colony, Sarghoda District, fanatics defaced signs and sacred images belonging to the minority. Police refuse to file a report on the incident, tell complainants to leave the station. Human rights activists file a writ before the Lahore High Court for violation of religious freedom.

Islamic fanaticism is casting a dark shadow over Easter celebrations this year in Pakistan. The country’s Christian community has already received threats and warnings against celebrating the occasion. Now sources in Sarghoda District in Punjab tell AsiaNews that someone tore down Easter signs and decorations at the Eidgah Christian colony. The unknown attackers also threw black paint on the community’s sacred images and made threats against those present, warning them not to continue in their preparations.

When residents turned to the local police to file a report, no one at the station would do it. Instead, they told the complainants to leave.

With courage and determination, some of the faithful put back the signs and images. However, once again, in the evening of Palm Sunday, fanatics came back for another raid. This time, they threw away the images and threatened punitive reprisals against the Christian colony.

Yasir Masih, a local resident, spoke to AsiaNews about the situation. “For years, colony residents have come together to prepare Holy Week,” he said. Equally, “for years, we have been threatened. Even though we reported it to the authorities, they didn’t take it seriously. This year, they [the fanatics] have come to our streets and threatened us. We are not safe, and we are scared.”

The Masihi Foundation, a humanitarian organisation, condemned the threats and has filed a writ this morning with the Lahore High Court, demanding protection for the Eidgah Christian Colony, and more generally for Christians in Punjab. More specifically, it has called on the authorities to enforce the residents’ right to freedom of religion.

“Christians live Holy Week in terror,” said Fr John Gill, a priest in Sargodha. “The state has failed to provide them security.”

For him, the Punjab has become a hub of violence against minorities. “We urge the authorities to take immediate action to put an end to the senseless violence.”

– asianews

Sudan bombs Churches and forces its Christians out

Sudan, April 03, 2012: Thousands of Christians stripped of their citizenship are now being forced out of Sudan in the wake of the South’s secession back in January 2011.

Christians have until April 8 to either leave the Islamic northern state, or be treated as foreigners under a regime that is openly hostile to non-Arabs and non-Muslims. To date, Sudanese Armed Forces have destroyed 10 churches.

Christians remaining in Sudan after the April deadline may face increased persecution, or forced repatriation; in either case, thousands of refugees to South Sudan will surely trigger a humanitarian crisis.

The Sudanese ultimatum comes as the new state of South Sudan struggles with a food shortage caused by a drought that has ruined its crops. The UN World Food Program estimates that as many as five million people in South Sudan will suffer from malnutrition this year.

Further, South Sudan’s resources are already being strained by the arrival of refugees from South Kordofan and the Blue Nile where 185,000 have already fled the latest genocidal campaign of a dictator demanding a purely Arab Islamic state.

“Despite the end of the long civil war and independence of South Sudan, Christians in both nations continue to suffer grievously,” said Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo, International Director of Barnabas Aid. “South Sudan is taking the strain as hundreds of thousands of people flee from President Omar al-Bashir’s ongoing brutal campaign to Islamize and Arabize Sudan completely. Our brothers and sisters need our help and prayers as they are forced to leave their homes and rebuild their lives elsewhere.”

After earlier denying that it had bombed civilians, last week Sudanese aerial strikes targeted church buildings and schools in Kauda, South Kordofan state. Antonov aircraft dropped bombs on homes and livestock near churches and schools in an “ethnic cleansing” campaign against non-Arab peoples in Sudan’s multi-ethnic state. As a result, the churches are holding worship services early in the morning and late at night to avoid these aireal attacks.

The U.N. estimates the conflict has created nearly 400,000 refugees, most of them in danger of starvation. Following last year’s secession of southern Sudan, Christians in Khartoum, notably those from the Nuba Mountains, live under uncertainty as they approach the April 8 deadline to either leave Sudan, or become its citizens and live under shar’ia. Sudan’s Interim National Constitution considers Islamic law as a source of legislation for policies that often favor that religion.

– worthynews