No, I am not saying that the Musharraf government supports jihad activity against Christians. But certainly many minor officials and police do, and that is why this appeal for help is unlikely to translate into any genuine action.
"Pakistan: Christian group asks govt. for protection," from AKI (thanks to Twostellas):
Quetta, 30 August (AKI/DAWN) - The Christian Action Committee, in the restive south-western Pakistani province of Baluchistan, has asked the government to provide security at churches.They have also demanded the arrest of all the people who attacked a church in the provincial capital Quetta on 26 August.
The members of the committee held a demonstration outside the Quetta Press Club on Tuesday.
They condemned the attack and alleged that those involved had used abusive language and insulted the women in the church.
The committee’s chairman Asif John said that on 26 August about 30 people came to the church in the city and injured the worshippers.
He said the police was informed and some people were arrested. However, a majority of them escaped. He urged the government to deploy police near the churches.
Well, these Islamist types are always claiming that theirs is a religion of peace. Time to prove it or shut up.
US consulates and embassy is still not issuing visas for Christians. Staff that work in US consulates and Embassy is local Pakistani muslims who process application of Christians with bias which results in visa refusal by the Visa Issuing Officer.
Please issue visa to Christians. Pakistani Christians have and will prove loyal to USA. Pakistani Christians assimilate completely in US society.
"staff that work in US consulates and Embassy is local Pakistani muslims who process application of Christians with bias which results in visa refusal by the Visa Issuing Officer."
--- from a posting above
Reports from other places, such as Syria, and Egypt, suggest the same. No Muslims, unless they are merely outwardly Muslim but by now convinced Muslims-for-identification-purposes-only Muslims, ought to be working anywhere, at any American consultate or embassy, on visa applications. This is crazy. This makes no sense.
That the US embassy in Pakistan will not issue visas to Christians could be grounds for a Christian organization to bring a federal lawsuit on their behalf. US immigration law clearly specifies religious persecution as grounds for asylum. That Pakistani Christians (as well as Hindus, Sikhs and Ismailis) are persecuted is obvious. The case above should cause such a suit to prevail in court.
Unfortunately, although Bush could grant them all asylum with the stroke of a pen, he has never done anything for persecuted Christians anywhere. Instead, he signed an executive order granting US asylum to 30,000 Meshket Turks claiming that they faced religious persecution in Russia because Putin would not give them an autonomous state like their terrorist allies in Chechnya. Under Bush, US policy is consistent in its support for Muslims over Christians.
But, perhaps one good thing will come from these Christians' appeal to Musharraf. It might force him to finally take sides and reveal his true colours instead of playing his double game of trying to support both the US and the Taliban.
Silly Dhimmi, protection is for believers, not infidels. What will they want next?
"They have also demanded the arrest of all the people who attacked a church in the provincial capital Quetta on 26 August"
....i bet that made the Muslims pull their panties up tightly....
From down the corridors of history, we hear minorites in Islamic countries petitioning the government for "protection". Then we hear the cries of "jihad!" Then we discover that the minorites have vanished.
If Islam is the religion of peace, it is the peace of the grave.
From down the corridors of history, we hear minorities in Islamic countries petitioning the government for "protection". Then we hear the cries of "jihad!" Then we discover that the minorities have vanished.
If Islam is the religion of peace, it is the peace of the grave.