CHALLENGE FOR PAKISTAN'S CHRISTIANS: BOMB THREAT TO SCHOOLS THAT REFUSE ISLAMIC DRESS Top story in Persecution Now news roundup, plus news from Eritrea, Egypt and Kazakhstan
Mar 03 2007
Postings >> Pakistan

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Additional sources are given in brackets. Further details from those sources.

PERSECUTION NOW

Growing tension for Christians in Pakistan as terrorists threaten to bomb a girls' school unless the pupils 'start wearing veils and burqas'.

The school is in the North West Frontier Province where Al Qaeda is known to be active.

The worrying trend is spreading from neighbouring Afghanistan. In the past 18 months Taliban have murdered 61 teachers and burnt down 183 schools. Now slogans are being daubed on walls in Pakistan declaring 'Martyrdom is a shortcut to heaven' and extremists are targeting relief organisations. A militant Muslim leader declared it is the duty of every Muslim to kill their members.

The rising tension will make life even more difficult for Christians in Pakistan, who face increasing hostility and discrimination (Additional source: Telegraph).

Thirty-year-old Magos Solomon Semere died of 'physical torture and persistent pneumonia' according to one source. Prison guards are said to have refused him proper medical care.

Jailers offered Semere the chance of freedom if he renounced his faith when he became seriously ill. But he refused. A fellow inmate says that he was 'determined to obey the Lord rather than men'.

More than 2,000 Eritrean Christians are known to be in jail for their religious beliefs (Compass Direct).

Police in Egypt have detained Christian families and forced them to withdraw complaints of arson attacks on their homes in a spate of anti-Christian violence.

A gang of Muslim extremists threw burning, petrol-soaked cotton into the homes of two Christian families in their town, 370 miles from Cairo. The attack came as a local feud between Muslims and Christians spiralled.

The fires were started just five days after Muslim groups set four Christian-owned shops alight (Compass Direct).

Kazakhstan's government is planning to crack down even harder on people with religious beliefs. The country already has tough anti-faith laws, but the new draft religion law would ban all unregistered religious activity. No religious community could have more than 50 members. Publishing or importing religious literature, including Bibles, would be banned, as would maintaining places of worship (Forum 18).

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