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This is what life is like in our secular ally Pakistan for one member of that nation's Christian minority. This report is from Compass Direct:
A Pakistani Christian teenager kidnapped for more than two weeks in November has been forced to flee his home and stay in hiding to avoid recapture by his Muslim extremist captors.Leaders of a fanatic Islamic school have vowed to send Zeeshan Gill, who just turned 16 last week, to fight in Kashmir as a newly-converted Muslim jihadi (holy warrior).
Zeeshan Gill was abducted November 7 on his way home from his classes at Garrison Cadet School in Sargodha, in Pakistan’s Punjab province. The boy was duped into accompanying a Muslim acquaintance, an electrician named Amjad Warriach who had done occasional work in his family’s home.
Warriach took Gill to the Jamia al Qasim al Aloom “madressa,” an Islamic school attached to a local mosque. Kept there under guard, the boy was forced to recite the “Kalima” (Islamic creed), perform Muslim ablutions and prayers five times a day, and observe daily fasting for the month of Ramadan then in progress.
The boy was beaten and threatened by his captors, who declared that since he had become a Muslim, they would kill him if he tried to run away or convert back to Christianity. Under the tenets of Islam, simply reciting the faith’s creed makes one a Muslim, and anyone who renounces Islam must be killed.
Gill was also given weapons training in the use of guns, pistols and grenades, and told that soon he would be sent to fight in the Muslim “holy war” in Kashmir. Hundreds of Pakistan’s militant Islamist groups -- now banned by the government -- have been embroiled in the violent dispute over India-administered Kashmir, a flashpoint between India and Pakistan for 15 years.
After three days of searching, Gill’s widowed mother finally learned that her missing son was being held at the Jamia Mosque, where mosque leaders claimed he had “embraced Islam.” A medical technician at Sargodha’s Civil Hospital, Razia Gill has been supporting her two sons and their elderly grandmother since her husband’s death nearly 12 years ago.
After Mrs. Gill contacted a lawyer, a bailiff from the Sargodha District and Sessions Court went together with a local police officer to meet Zeeshan at the madressa. In the presence of his captors, the boy simply said that he had become a Muslim, and that he did not want to go back to his mother.
The bailiff demanded a subsequent court summons on November 14, when madressa leader Maulvi Sohail was ordered to appear with the boy. Before Judge Khawaja Imtiaz Ahmad, the boy reiterated that he had converted to Islam of his own free will, stating that he would return to his mother only if she also became a Muslim.
Although Mrs. Gill asked the judge to allow her to meet with Zeeshan privately, the judge refused, declaring that her son was a “sensible boy,” and even though he was a minor, he “had the right” to convert to another religion.
The laws of Pakistan do not include any provisions regarding religious conversion, although under the Minors Act, children remain minors under their parents’ legal authority until age 18.
On November 20, the madressa leaders sent Zeeshan with a Muslim bodyguard back to his house, where he was told to collect his clothes. Four days later, he was told he was to report for final training at Raiwand’s large Islamic center and then be sent to Kashmir, where he would be expected to “spread Islam at the speed of 120 kilometers [70 miles] per hour.” Before his departure for Kashmir, he was allowed to return home once again -- alone this time -- to say goodbye to his family.
The unaccompanied visit enabled Zeeshan to finally tell his mother exactly what had happened to him, and the plans to send him to Kashmir. She immediately gathered up both her sons and fled the city, taking shelter with relatives miles away. A church leader there heard of the family’s plight and put Mrs. Gill in touch with the Lahore-based Center for Legal Aid and Assistance Settlement (CLAAS) to get legal counsel and a secure hiding place for Zeeshan.
According to CLAAS coordinator Joseph Francis, the Gill family’s dilemma is not unusual among Pakistan’s tiny Christian minority. But the Gills are particularly vulnerable, he noted, since they have no male elder in the family, making it easier for extremists to intimidate the boy and his mother.
CLAAS lawyers have represented a similar case in which the provincial High Court intervened. In this case, the captors who insisted a minor boy had “converted to Islam” were ordered by the court to release him back to his Christian family.
“Afterwards his abductors again kidnapped him and had him sent to Kashmir,” Francis told Compass, “and now no one knows about that child’s whereabouts.”
“There is nothing we can do legally,” CLAAS Coordinator Joseph Francis told Compass this week. “Zeeshan’s mother and little brother Numan have returned to Sargodha, but he must stay apart from them in hiding.”
Posted by Robert at January 29, 2004 7:22 AM
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Dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
Blessings from Pakistan.
The situation here in Pakistan is turning out to be more and more challenging for the people of God. Contrary to what world was thinking the scientists who got education from abroad and some of them were married to European girls have proved to be not only fundamentalists but also in the networks of the extremist and terrorist organizations.
Before this the world has been concentrating on the Islamic religious institutions (madrassahs) but its proved that the terrorism and extremism has gone deep into the roots of the society. Above all the syllabus being taught to the children in the schools (both government and private, very few schools have some other syllabus). I am sending u a short report of one of our Teachers' Training Programs, which shows that the syllabus is full of biased and prejudices material. The history is being taught according to the interests of the fundamentalists.
What we are trying to do here in Human Development Centre is to over come the differences and increase prospects for interaction between
Christians and Muslims but the interaction at equal level is possible only when the Christians have social and economic status which they don't have. They do not have confidence in their personalities.
Atif Jamil Pagaan
Deputy Director
Human Development Center
Waryam Road
Toba Tek Singh 36050
Pakistan
Tel: 92-462-512471
Teachers' refresher Course to Review the School Curriculum
"I never thought that the syllabus I teach in the school has lots of
flaws regarding the themes that wBillie LaBumbard e teach. But after the Teachers' refresher Course organized by Human Development Center, I feel that the school curriculum does not fulfill the requirement to build the character and development personality of the children." Said Ms Farah Gill, a secondary school teacher from Okara, after the Teachers Refresher Course.
The Teachers' Refresher Course was organized by Human Development
Center, a Toba Tek Singh-based development organization working in the rural areas of Punjab Province, to give teachers an orientation on the themes of Human Rights Education, Rights Based Approach, Citizenship Education, Peace Building and Conflict Resolution.
We have been working in the schools with the children since 1999 on
peacebuilding, interfaith harmony and HR education but we felt that
not only the parents but also the teachers become hurdle in educating the children on these issues. The reason might be the same background of the teachers as the children are going through. We also felt that
curriculum being taught miss lot of important things and it is a prejudiced and biased syllabus. The teachers need an orientation on how the curriculum is developing the attitudes of fundamentalism and religious discrimination among the children. That is why we organized this refresher course." said Atif Jamil Pagaan, Deputy Director of the Human Development Center.
Thirty-five teachers attended the refresher course from eight
parishes of Faisalabad Diocese. Among the participants eight Muslim teachers also attended the course.
After the orientation sessions for three days the participants spent the whole day in reviewing the URDU (National language) book from class 1 to 10. Despite the time constraint, the participants brought out the important findings from the books, which promote fundamentalism, minimize the role of the religious minorities in the development of the country and are gender insensitive. The participants pointed the over emphasis of the Islamic teachings in the URDU language book. They also pointed out that woman is presented as an "object" of the family in the books. The participants were of the view that they are not against the Islamic teachings being taught in the syllabus but it should be put only in the Islamic Education and when there is a full subject of Islamic Education being taught as a compulsory subject then there is no need to include it in other books.
As the time was short, the participants decided to form ten members team to review all the books in detail and send the recommendations to the president of Pakistan, Punjab Text Book Board, Education Minister and other related departments.
It's a discovery for me that our curriculum lacks many things and it
does not present the enough teachings for the student for his formation to make him/her a good citizen and human beings. As a Muslim teacher I feel that Islamic teachings being taught in the Islamic Education subject. We can teach many good things to our children in other books." Ms Saima Adul Rasheed, a secondary school teacher from Samundari, commented after the program.
At the end teachers from each parish prepared the work plan to be implemented after their return to their respective areas. The follow up plans prepared by the teachers focused more on orientation sessions for their colleagues in the schools, regular review of the curriculum, meetings with the parents and integration of the curriculum with the
these taught in the refresher course.
Atif Jamil Pagaan
Deputy Director
Human Development Center
Waryam Road
Toba Tek Singh 36050
Pakistan
Tel: 92-462-512471
Muslims attack the church in a village in Pakistan
“They were dozens in number and were on the tractors with trolleys behind. It was a sunny day and when I saw them they hit the trolley with the church wall and it fell down. I ran towards them and tried to stop them. They attacked me with a brick on my head and I feel down. Then they caught from the hair and threw me away.” Said Nargis, wife of Rehmat Masih in a village 680/21 (pirmehal) District Toba Tek Singh, Pakistan.
The village is comprised of majority of the Muslims with forty five Christian families. The church was established with the help of the Apostolic Church in 1986. But all the denominations used the church.
The church, according to the workers of one Muslim extremist group was the encroachment and the land, where it was built, actually owned by a Muslim. They threatened the Christians that they will demolish the church. The Christian leaders contacted Human Development Centre (a Human Rights Organization in the city of Toba Tek Singh). The Deputy Director of Human Development Centre, Atif Jamil Pagaan contacted the district administration about the matter, The Deputy District Ofiicer (Revenue) and the Tehsildar of the area visited the place and collected the evidence. Even some of the Muslims told the government officers that Church was built with the unanimous decision of the leader of the village (lumberdar) and the other villagers.
After the visit of the governmentt officers’ visit, the extremists threatened the Christians of the village again that they will demolish the church.
On March 3, 2004 dozens of the Muslims on tractor-trolleys attacked the church and demolished the boundary walls of the church. They also hit the back side of the church building.
“It is an act of brutality and discrimination. We can not bear it and it is now proved that there are elements in this country who do not want Christians let live in peace and harmony. Everybody knows who did it but police is not ready to register the case and trying to twist the whole case to make it a quarrel between two parties. It is even worse” said Atif Jamil Pagaan, Deputy Director of the Human Development Centre.
The Christians of the village gave an application to the police to register the case. They also have the medical certificate of the wife of Rehmat Masih.
The culprits are threatening them again. We have also nominated the culprits but police has closed its eyes.
The reality behind this incident is that Muhammad Ashraf grabbed a piece of land near the Church. He was ambitious to increase his land for the business purpose. He made the false story and convinced the other Muslim friends. They were convinced and they cooperated with him and attacked on the church and beat Christian family living near the church.
Christian in this village are not safe, they need safety of life and property. They are afraid that Muslims any time can attack them. Police did not register the FIR. Police is not cooperating with them because they are having their religious prejudices and resentment with Christians.
Atif Jamil Pagaan
Deputy Director
Human Development Centre
Waryam Road, Toba Tek Singh 36050
Pakistan
Tel: 92-462-512471
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