Christian’s death in jail sparks Pakistan unrest

[Metallic]

Christian’s death in jail sparks Pakistan unrest
PAKISTAN - 16 SEPTEMBER 2009

ISLAMABAD - Pakistani Christians clashed with security forces Wednesday at the funeral of a Christian man who police said hanged himself in jail while being held on accusations he defiled the Muslim holy book. Some Christian leaders alleged he was murdered.

The clashes — just weeks after eight Christians were burned to death by a Muslim mob — are a reminder of the tensions simmering in religious minority communities in Muslim-majority Pakistan, where a spreading Taliban movement has fueled Islamist extremism.

Fanish Masih was found dead Tuesday in his cell in Sialkot, a town in Punjab province.

Jail superintendent Farooq Lodhi said the 19-year-old hanged himself using the string that held up his pants. The National Commission for Justice and Peace, a Catholic-led advocacy group in Pakistan, called the death an "extra-judicial murder" and demanded an investigation.

Lodhi denied any crime had been committed, adding that an autopsy was being conducted.

"Those who say he was killed in the jail are in fact trying to create unrest and confrontation between Muslims and Christians," he said.

According to the National Commission for Justice and Peace, Masih was accused of throwing a chapter of the Quran down a drain last week in Jatheki village. Muslims in the village near Sialkot responded by burning a church, and Masih was arrested the following day.

About 700 people attended Masih's funeral. Dozens of younger mourners began tossing stones at nearby police, who reacted by beating the protesters with batons and firing tear gas into the crowd, an Associated Press photographer at the scene in Sialkot said.

Christians have suspicions
Nelson Azeem, a Christian lawmaker from Sialkot, said he did not know how Masih died but said many people in the community were suspicious.

No matter how he died, he said, "it was the responsibility of the jail staff to protect his life as he was facing a serious charge."

Minority and human rights activists staged protests Tuesday in the eastern city of Lahore after word of Masih's death, with some carrying posters calling it a murder.

Non-Muslims make up less than 5 percent of Pakistan's 175 million people. They are especially vulnerable to anti-blasphemy laws that carry the death penalty for derogatory remarks or any other action against Islam, the Quran or the Prophet Muhammad.

Anyone can make an accusation under the rules, and they often are used to settle personal scores and rivalries.

In late July-early August, rumors that a group of Christians had desecrated a Quran sparked demonstrations that turned into riots in Gojra, a small city also in Punjab in a region dotted with hard-line Islamist schools.

Protesters set ablaze house after house in a Christian neighborhood in the town, killing eight people. Pakistani officials said the attack was incited by a radical Islamist group. A police probe had already found that no Quran was defiled.

After the Gojra killings, Pakistan's prime minister pledged the government would review the blasphemy laws.

His spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Minority Rights Group International, a watchdog organization, ranked Pakistan last year as the world's top country for major increases in threats to minorities from 2007 — along with Sri Lanka, which was engaged in a civil war.

The group lists Pakistan seventh on the list of 10 most dangerous countries for minorities, after Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Myanmar and Congo.


Source: Associated Press

 

[muse]

Sherry demands inquiry into Christian prisoner’s death

KARACHI: Former information minister Sherry Rehman on Wednesday called for an immediate inquiry into the death of Fanish Masih, who was found dead in prison three days after he was arrested on the charge of desecrating the holy Quran in Sambarial. “Fanish Masih’s death, whether it was suicide or murder, is most tragic as it highlights the misery suffered by our citizens when they face an institutional denial of fundamental rights,” the former information minister said while extending her condolences to Masih’s family and the country’s Christian community.



Just as pakistani soildiers and solice are offering sacrifices to free Pakistan from the grip of takfiri muslims, the attitudes prevalent in society continue to empower the takfiri - Pakistan is therefore caught in a one step forwrad and one step back stance - these attitudes prevent Pakistan from moving into the group of countries in which one can say that citizens are not judged by their confession but by the content of their character.

 

[muse]

What do such attitudes do to Pakistan's position among other countries? With what face does Pakistan go to Indian and say to him that Morally he is deficient?? How convincing is the Pakistani going to be to voices in Israel, in the US in the UK, in France -- is this the reality about who we are? Pakistanis come to your senses, unite against these attitudes and ideas, the life you save may be your own:




Editorial: Death of blasphemy accused

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan chairwoman, Ms Asma Jahangir, has called on the government to take notice of the death in custody of a Christian accused of blasphemy in Sialkot. Fanish Masih, 25, was arrested to satisfy the blood lust of the mob in Sambrial that had attacked and burned a church in a Sambrial village.

The district jail superintendent explained the death: “Masih, being accused of blasphemy, was put in a separate cell where he committed suicide by using a string”. So much for procedure. Knowing full well that the boy was framed, he was treated as an ordinary death-row prisoner. He was also probably also treated shabbily, which may have forced him to lose hope.

People who are treated by the state as pariahs are losing hope. Punjab’s Minister for Minority Affairs, Mr Kamran Michael, says the police in Sialkot mishandled the case: “I have seen the body and there were torture marks on it”. The local Christians are now scared to death about their own future, and claim Masih was “tortured to death by the jail staff”. This has happened before.

Christians killed in the name of Islam never get justice. The only way an accused can be saved is to bundle him out of the country after releasing him on bail. The Muslims of Pakistan are killed like flies by the Taliban warlords and Al Qaeda. Instead of uniting against the curse of Muslim-kills-Muslim they turn around and target the most impoverished community among the minorities of Pakistan.

The latest death has burdened the conscience of Pakistan with one more collective crime. The state, forewarned, has instead relied on its old reflex of looking away and letting an innocent man die.

 

[TruthSeeker]

Many societies have wrestled with this problem. IMHO the only lasting solution is for the social contract to be based on (1) the rule of law, (2) that law includes many individual rights (including the freedom to practice a religion of choice that does no harm to others) and (3) the coercive power of the state is used to enforce the law without fear or favor.

No country does this perfectly. A great country to live in will try hard, though.

 

[muse]

TS


Pakistan will be a great country - though unfortunately not any time soon. These kinds of things happen in a enabling environment - I mean do you really think Al-qa-eeda and taliban just sort came to Pakistan out of the blue? No, the population had ideas brewing, maturing in it, that were conducive to these -- now, a significant shift has occured, but not significant enough, unfortunately.

fanish masih was a Pakistani, a 19 year old Pakistani, not a terrorist, not a takfiri, his parents are Pakistani who even though they faced discrimination and pettyness on a almost unbelievable scale as do all religious minorities in Pakistan, lived in pakistan, were loyal and trusting citizens of pakistan - and are now victims of Pakistan.


It's a most shameful thing to experience but it is not as glamourous as Palestinians and arabs and such - and it allows otherwise decent people to not have to face the fact that their attitudes, their acceptance, their religious bigotry, played a role in the death of 19 year old innocent, law abiding Pakistani and in the destruction of a family and in the decimation of trust in society.

 

[r3alist]

Many societies have wrestled with this problem. IMHO the only lasting solution is for the social contract to be based on (1) the rule of law, (2) that law includes many individual rights (including the freedom to practice a religion of choice that does no harm to others) and (3) the coercive power of the state is used to enforce the law without fear or favor.

No country does this perfectly. A great country to live in will try hard, though.

but for pakistan the issue is how to enforce the rule of law - in so many ways pakistan is corrupt, lawless and dysfuntional that you could make a an enormous list of all the individual problems and everyone will disagree on whats the main causes.


take one example, pakistan seems to have enough police officers, alteast in certain areas, but when the guys responsible for enforcing the law in fact are not so fussed about it then you know there are big issues.

is the issue plain corruption? poverty? lack of accountability?

 

[muse]

Seems to me the issue is a society willing to put up with such things. That's the real issue our permissiveness, our acceptance. No one will be admonished for this boy's death, the body which bore marks of torture according to a govt minister will be turned over to the family - the community of Christains will feel even more victimized - the majority Muslims in the larger cities, will add "tsk tsk" and we will all wait for the next incident - is it this? is it that? hand wringing and forgotten till another incident.

Alfter all, how many of these do we have to see to know what is the source of this ?? Who accepts and demands blasphemy laws? who uses this law to keep Christians in a terrorized state? We all know the answer, we just do not have enough moral fiber to say that this will not be done in our name -- and lets face it, these are not arabs, but for the Chritians of Pakistan, are we not the Israeli??

 

[r3alist]

Seems to me the issue is a society willing to put up with such things

religious zealotry does exist and it is a problem, but whose to say it does not stem from the rule of law, or other factors such as poverty, education, class et etc

lets not take liberties with cause and effect when the root issues could have several related factors or is infact not completely clear.

 

[muse]

I don't think it's taking liberties when suggesting that the the rule of law is a problem, because it's acceptable to us, it's just the truth, regaqrdless of class or education as is clear from pages of the forum, it is religious extremism (I don't grant liberties either) that is at the heart of our permissiveness our suceptibility to reward failure and view reward as something the afterlife may hold for us.

 

[r3alist]

I don't think it's taking liberties when suggesting that the the rule of law is a problem, because it's acceptable to us, it's just the truth, regaqrdless of class or education as is clear from pages of the forum,

sorry, you are right, i misunderstood.

it is religious extremism (I don't grant liberties either) that is at the heart of our permissiveness our suceptibility to reward failure and view reward as something the afterlife may hold for us.

i think this is a leap if i understand correctly.

is religious extremism at the heart of our corrupt millionaire, orgy loving, alcohol drinking politicians?

is it lack of education, bigotry, povetry or no rule of law which leads to such incidents in the OP, in honesty i dont know, i am not ruling anything out but i know enough to say your response seems to coloured by your own prejudices.

 

[dabong1]

Thursday, September 17, 2009
It is really heartening to see that everyone on the net and media has condemned torching of a church in Sambrial. As the Christian community of the area is generally not very well off, would it not be, therefore, in the fitness of things to assist them financially in restoring their place of worship? Such financial help should first come from the government and then from the general public. I would request the church authorities to open a bank account for this purpose details of which be made known to all for their generous contribution. I think we as Muslims owe this small gesture to our Christian brethren.

Col (r) Riaz Jafri

Rawalpindi



*****

Once again another church has been burnt down. Another victim of 295 C, Robert Masih of Jethi village, paid a price for his faith. Today rulers of our land are busy making celebrations while Christians are being killed and their sacred places are being burnt.

Ifrahim A Mathew

Secretary,

The Evangelical Alliance of Pakistan,

Lahore
Attack on Christians

 

[muse]

A huge fuss was made over a photo purporting to show a "Jewish" man chucking a what was claimed was a glass of wine at a Muslim woman, Pakistanis of all stripes condemned the "Jewish' man and any who suggested we may keep our powder dry - the Pakistani Majlis has demanded a judicial inquiry in the the killing of young Fanish Masih.He, his grieving parents and the Pakistani nation need to know the truth and the Police officials brought to justice, but the larger problem of religious extremism and bigotry must be tackled by undoing the islamist laws of the Zia era, we must undo the blasphemy laws.

Today, 30 Shi'ah Muslims were Killed in a Suicide bombing by a Saudi supported ostensibly Sunni group, the Laskhar e Jhangvi -- Yeah, it's not as glamorous as a "Jewish" man thread - but there you have it, if one you encapsulate this as if a snap shot, what would it say about us???

Yeah I know, not as glamorous, as fun as "Jewish" man...

 

[SecularHumanist]

Where are the public protests and outrage for these PAKISTANIS? Yes they are as much a part of Pakistan as anyone else. Oh but wait, we know what Pakistanis like protesting for more-- you draw some cartoons of Muhammad, burn the quran, or show pictures of Palestine burning and they are all up in arms. Yet they like to claim that muslims respect all religions and humanity.

What about these fellow Christians who are being persecuted? Oh yes, they are Christians, not muslims. If Pakistanis want to show that they truly care about the non-muslims in Pakistan then they have a great opportunity. Protest against these blasphemy laws which can be easily used to persecute the minorities. The action or lack of action right now will show the attitude of this country. Jaago.

 

[muse]

No marching lawyers, no ordinary citizens at least showing solidarity with other Pakistanis, no vigils, no nothing - not even shame.

Bring on the jew -

Taubah, taubah - taubah se bhi taubah

 

[muse]

To kill with impunity
Abbas Rashid



The most recent victim of those who have frequently used the blasphemy law and the social sanction derived from it for their own ends has been a young man named Fanish Masih, aged 19, a resident of Sambrial-Sialkot, a citizen of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and a Christian. On an accusation of blasphemy, he was put in jail and was subsequently found dead in his cell. And, the police claims, he committed suicide.

For his family, his tragic death will probably remain the most traumatic incident of their lives. But what is equally unfortunate is that his death is not entirely exceptional. Just over the last few weeks there have been horrendous incidents of organised and targeted violence in Punjab; the worst in Gojra, where a number of men and women were burnt alive when a mob apparently used chemicals to set homes on fire. The Gojra victims, too, were members of the Christian community. Of course Muslims have also been victimised under this law by those who obviously think little of taking a religious cover for perpetrating such crimes with impunity.

But then we need to recall that the ‘law-giver’ in this case was none other than General Zia-ul Haq, a military dictator who used Islam liberally in order to secure desperately needed legitimacy for his government. The laws imposed by Zia with the stated objective of making better Muslims of us all essentially targeted the poor and the defenseless, particularly women and minorities. It was a cynical policy used with abandon to gain political leverage.

That successive civilian governments have left the law in place does them little credit. At one point during Benazir Bhutto’s government there seems to have been some discussion about imposing a five- to seven-year jail sentence on anyone who was found guilty of false accusation in such a case. It seemed an eminently fair proposal given that the law prescribes the death sentence for blasphemy and furthermore there is a high likelihood of the accused being killed in any case, regardless of whether the charge is eventually proven in court or not. The idea was dropped because of pressure from clerics. And, of course, this is a group from whom we hear very little about how this law, imposed by a dictator and used relentlessly as a cover to terrorise minorities, serves Islam or the ends of justice.

Time and again, it has been established in such cases that in the background there was a dispute over property or some other personal antagonism that provided the motive for someone to make the accusation. And yet, once again, we have Maulana Hamid Kazmi, the federal minister for religious affairs, defending the law, as it stands.

Does anyone really think that in a country with a Muslim majority of about 95 percent, anyone would even dare blaspheme? Why did we hardly ever hear of an incident of blasphemy prior to the advent of Zia-ul Haq? With or without the law, people would have been outraged if they found someone blaspheming. The reason is that blasphemy was not common then nor is there any reason for it to be common now. The difference between the two eras obviously lies elsewhere.

But this was not just a case of mob hysteria. Fanish Masih was in jail and kept in isolation. There seems to be no motive whatsoever for him to commit suicide, even if he were to somehow acquire the means to do so. There must be a proper and credible enquiry into the circumstances of his death.

Was he killed by those who were deputed by the state to protect him? In which case what would be the distinction between them and a mob? Those found guilty of committing or abetting such a serious crime must be brought to book. It is not enough to adopt the usual course of suspension and transfer. The message must go through that however aggravated anyone may feel, they have not been accorded the mandate of judge and executioner.

But is there another sinister dimension to these killings?

It could well be that some of the leading extremist groups in Punjab are now anticipating the state moving against themselves as the military operation in FATA and the NWFP against the militants proceeds successfully. According to a provincial minister, some banned extremist groups were involved in the violence in Gojra and that masked men had been spotted among the rioters. So, as the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has also pointed out, this was not quite spontaneous outrage but an organised attack.

Clearly, over the last few months, extremists have seen public support for their positions erode as more of their activities have come to light. Inciting people in this fashion would be a way for them to regain this lost space. All the more reason then that the government should be vigilant — not quite what it has been so far — against efforts by such groups to foment anger against minority groups as a tactical move. Much better intelligence would be needed by the state to check this strategy.

There is no question that the blasphemy law needs to be reviewed. For a start, we could go back to the recommendation of the Islamic Ideology Council whereby it would be possible to register blasphemy cases only with the High Court, with only senior investigators charged with the task of establishing the truth of the matter.

The other issue is that of imposing punishment for making a false accusation or providing wrongful testimony in such a case. Both should serve as a deterrent to this cruel persecution of minorities in particular and restrain those disposed to using the law for their own ulterior purposes.

Abbas Rashid lives in Lahore and can be contacted at abbasrh***********