Tuesday, March 21, 2006

CROSS SKETCHED ON PAKISTAN UNIVERSITY’S FLOOR
By Sheraz Khurram Khan
Special Correspondent for Assist News Service in Pakistan
http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/s06030127.htm

 
LAHORE, PAKISTAN (ANS) -- In a bid to avenge the publication of the controversial caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, hundreds of students of the Punjab University walked over a cross that was drawn on the floor of the Institution of Education and Research in the university.

Deflating hopes of Pakistani Christians, who were not anticipating to bear any further brunt of the cartoons’ controversy, especially after government moved to ensure the peaceful staging of the anti-cartoon rallies, the fresh incident involving the desecration of a cross in the university, comes as a chilling reminder to them that troubles still lay in store for them.

According to the Pakistan Christian Post, the cross was drawn on the floor of the said institution of the university where scores of students trampled it upon their feet to show their anger against the publication of the cartoons satirizing the Prophet Muhammad.
 

Earlier, members of the Sialkot football industry, allegedly printed images of cross on the patches of football (soccer ball) and it is alleged that stitching of the footballs with images of cross printed on its patches is underway. The incident had prompted Bishop Timothius Nasir to write a letter to President General Pervez Musharraf, appealing to him to intervene.
 

After seeing desecration of the cross in the Punjab University, the Chairman God’s Love Ministry, Pastor Nazir Shad, reportedly lodged a strong protest with governor of Punjab, Lt. General (Retd) Khalid Maqbool, who is also the chancellor of the universities in the province Punjab.
 

The Rev. Shad urged the governor to take notice of the desecration of cross and ensure that its sacrilege end. He demanded of the governor to take immediate action against those who allegedly drew the cross on the floor of the university’s department.
 

The pastor also called upon Pakistani Muslims to demonstrate respect for people of faiths other than Islam in the country.
 

Desecration of cross on the campus of a prestigious university of Pakistan is a novel development, as the painting of Danish flags bearing the cross have already been witnessed on the country’s roads during anti-cartoon rallies. The cartoon protests claimed five lives across the country.
 

If the government does not take any action against desecration of the cross it is feared that its sketching may make inroads into other educational institutions of the country.