Pakistan: Islamist Group Funded by Kidnapping Christian Boys
Jun 06 2006
Postings >> Pakistan

An Islamist group linked to al-Qaeda have been funding their activities by kidnapping Christian boys and selling them into slavery.

Gul Khan, a senior member of Jamaat-ud Daawa (JUD), used the group's base in Muridke near Lahore to trade boys aged six to 12. The children were abducted from remote Christian villages in the Punjab and sold for nearly £1,000 each to buyers wanting domestic slaves or sex-workers. Christians in Pakistan are treated as second-class citizens and tend to be among the poorest in society.

Khan was exposed when a group of American and Pakistani missionaries posed as potential buyers to try to rescue enslaved children, according to The Sunday Times.

His base was reportedly funded by Osama bin Laden in the late-1990s. JUD was designated a terrorist organisation and its assets frozen by the US Treasury in April.

• Thank God this callous trade in Christian children has been brought to an end.
• Pray for Christians in Pakistan, enduring all kinds of discrimination, even slavery, because of their faith. Ask God to uphold and strengthen them.