From the Qatar Peninsula, with thanks to Twostellas:
PESHAWAR: The bodies of a protestant pastor and his driver have been found dumped on a road in Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province, police said yesterday.
The bodies of Shamoun Barbar, 37, and his driver, identified only as Daniel, were found near the provincial capital, Peshawar, on Thursday.
“The victims had been stabbed and shot,” a senior police officer said. “The hand of one of the victims was also cut off.”
Police said they suspected that the priest had been killed because his brother was having an affair with a Muslim woman. They said the woman and her brother had been detained.
But leaders of the Christian community called it a “targeted act of terrorism” aimed at intimidating Christians.
“Barbar had been receiving life threats for a long time and the police’s claim that he was killed because of his brother’s affair with a Muslim women is baseless,” said Shahbaz Bhatti, chairman of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance.
Even if it weren’t baseless, it’s heinous enough in itself: reminiscent of the old Jim Crow South, the death of Emmett Till, etc. And evidence that in Pakistan dhimmitude is alive and well.
“It is a heinous crime and brutal act of terrorism, which should not be ignored.”
Christians are the largest non-Muslim minority in Pakistan, where all but about five percent of the 150 million people are Muslim.
Islamic militants enraged by Pakistan’s support for the US-led war on terrorism launched several attacks on Christian communities after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on US cities.
An angry crowd of 200 Christian mourners blocked a key road yesterday in protest at the killing.
“We will not bury the bodies unless the killers are brought to justice,” close relatives and friends of the dead men shouted as they blocked traffic near the cemetery on main highway linking Pakistan with Afghanistan.
“The kidnappers and killers must be brought to justice as soon as possible,” read one banner held by the crowd. “Protect the Christian community,” said another….