News and prayer alert from Release International
Jul 08 2008
Postings >> Press Release

PAKISTAN Taliban militants in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province have apologised for abducting 16 Christians – in what some see as a cynical ploy to prove they are fit to rule in the region.

Militants kidnapped the group at gunpoint during a prayer meeting in Peshawar on June 21 and took them up to the Afghan border. Within hours, the 16 had been recovered safely.

Soon afterwards the Taliban confused commentators by apologising at a press conference for the kidnapping and announcing that it was the result of a ‘misunderstanding’.

However, contrary to some reports, Release International sources say a total of 32 believers were seized and 16 remain in captivity. Observers are suspicious of the Taliban’s motives for another reason too. Militants also kidnapped the Christians’ landlord, a Muslim named Muhammed Siraj – and he has apparently not been freed either.

The Christians all live in a building owned by Siraj, which was once an Islamic seminary. Under Islamic law, Mr Siraj could be accused of ‘desecrating’ a former seminary by allowing ‘infidels’ to live there. If he is harmed, his tenants will probably be evicted. The Taliban have recently ordered the Christians to move out – but they have always refused.

Part of North West Frontier Province has been handed over to the Taliban in a ceasefire deal with local and federal governments.

Release sources suggest that the Taliban’s apology could be a clumsy attempt to counter criticism levelled at the Pakistan government for handing over power to radicals in parts of the province. The small Christian community there is under mounting pressure to conform to Sharia law – so the Taliban’s apology has a hollow ring to it.

(Source: Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement, International Christian Concern)

• Pray for Christians in North West Frontier Province whose religious freedoms are increasingly threatened as Islamist radicals extend their powerbase.

• Pray that the 16 Christians and their landlord Muhammed Siraj held by the Taliban will be freed immediately.

CHINA The president of the Chinese House Church Alliance and his interpreter have been arrested on their way to meet with a senior EU official in Beijing.

Pastor Zhang Mingxuan and his aide, Ou Yang, were held by Public Security Bureau (PSB) officials for 31 hours before being released following an international outcry. The pastor had been due to meet Dr Bastiaan Belder, Rapporteur of the European Parliament’s Committee of Foreign Affairs, to discuss China’s relationship with the EU on June 18.

Pastor Zhang has been arrested, beaten and jailed 12 times since becoming a Christian in 1986, according to China Aid. He has taken the bold step of issuing three open letters to the international community over the last year, protesting at the authorities’ treatment of believers like him.

Most recently, officials forced Pastor Zhang to close the orphanage he ran with his two sons. Other landlords have since refused to rent out property to him – after threats from government officials. China Aid now reports that the landlord of Pastor Mingxuan’s family home has sent him an eviction notice too.

Meanwhile, concern continues to mount for Beijing bookseller Shi Weihan who has been held for three months without formal charges and virtually incommunicado. The PSB are only allowed to hold suspects for two months without charge. Shi, who is a severe diabetic, runs a legally registered Christian bookshop and travel agency near the Olympic village.

(Sources: China Aid, Compass Direct)

• Pray for the release of Shi Weihan. Ask God to comfort him and his family.

• Praise God for the release of Pastor Mingxuan. Pray for new premises for his family and his orphanage.

INDONESIA Local officials and an Islamist mob joined forces to try to pull down part of a church compound – three years after Christians were forced out.

Two buildings in the compound in Jatimulya village, West Java, were partially dismantled on June 14. But proceedings came to a sudden halt when an official fell from the roof of one of the buildings and the demolition was called off.

The buildings have lain empty since 2005, when the authorities boarded them up following objections from local Muslims about Christian worship there. Three different churches who used the premises were made homeless overnight.

The partial demolition follows a complaint by one church leader that the buildings were being burgled. Rev Pestaria Hutajulu of the Indonesian Evangelical Prophet Church filed a complaint on June 12 with village and district heads, who had originally sealed the buildings and whom she therefore held responsible for the burglaries.

Tensions between local Christians and Muslims first arose in 2004, when an Islamic school was built directly in front of the church compound, limiting access to the church to a narrow passageway.

Matters got worse in 2005 when the authorities closed the church, following Muslims’ objections to Christian worship. So church members began to worship in the street – until local Muslims attacked a pastor.

Finally, the authorities agreed to help the Christians find an alternative venue, promising not to tear down the buildings. That help has never materialised. The churches’ case has now been taken up by advocacy group Religious Freedom Defenders Team, which has filed a case with police.

(Source: Compass Direct)

• Pray that the authorities will abandon their church demolition plans.

• Ask God to build the faith of the three ‘homeless’ congregations in Jatimulya.

SUDAN Government troops in Sudan are accused of withholding emergency food aid from Christians if they refuse to become Muslims.

German aid agency Hilfsaktion Martyrerkirche (HMK) has alleged that Christians are being forced to recite the Islamic statement of faith in mosques in return for food and water. Those who refuse go hungry, according to HMK director Manfred Müller.

HMK believes that several water centres are controlled by government troops representing the Arab and Muslim north of Sudan. Southerners are mainly Christian or animist.

Meanwhile, tensions remain high in the disputed north-south border area around Abyei, the scene of fierce fighting between northern and southern troops in recent weeks.

But in a positive step, northern and southern partners in the national unity government have now agreed to take the border row to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, the BBC reports.

(Sources: BBC, BosNewsLife)

• Thank God that politicians have agreed to submit to an international arbiter to resolve the thorny issue of north-south border demarcation around Abyei.

• Pray that food aid will be distributed fairly to all in need, regardless of their faith.

Through its international network of missions Release International supports Christians imprisoned for their faith and their families in 30 nations. It supports church workers, pastors and their families, and provides training, Bibles, Christian literature and broadcasts. Release International is a member of the UK organisations Global Connections, the Evangelical Alliance and the Micah Network.