Saturday, November 12, 2005MUSLIMS TORCH CHURCHES FOLLOWING CLAIMS THAT KORAN WAS DESECRATED
By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News ServiceLAHORE, PAKISTAN (ANS) -- An angry Muslim mob today burned and ransacked Churches, Christian houses, a school, hostel, and a parish house, destroying Bibles, Christian books and breaking the cross at a church, in Basti Asyia, Sangla Hill village, in the Province of Punjab, Pakistan.
According to an Associated Press (AP) story posted to the Fox News website, hundreds of Muslims attacked and burned two churches in Pakistan on Saturday after reports that a Christian man had desecrated Islam's holy book. No one was injured in the blazes.
A school, student hostel and the home of a priest were also torched by the crowd of about 1,500 Muslims near the town of Sangla Hill, about 80 miles northeast of Lahore, said police official Ali Asghar Dogar.
The attacks were being investigated. About two dozen people had been arrested, Dogar said.
The AP said the fires came a day after a local Muslim resident accused a Christian of burning a one-room Islamic school along with copies of the Quran. Dogar said the allegations were apparently leveled by people who lost money while gambling with the Christian man on Friday, but police had detained him and were investigating.
Shahbaz Bhatti, head of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) -- which promotes the rights of minorities in mainly Muslim Pakistan, denied the charges and condemned the attacks on the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches.
"No Christian burned copies of the Quran," he told The Associated Press. "No Christian even can think of doing it. We have maximum regard and respect for the Quran and Islam's Prophet Muhammad."
Bhatti accused local Muslim leaders of using mosque public-address systems to urge Muslims to attack the churches.
Non-Muslims comprise just 3 percent of Pakistan's 150 million-plus population. The country's Christian minority generally coexists peacefully with the Muslim majority, but there have been occasional attacks on churches and Christian clergy by Islamic extremists railing against Western influence in Pakistan.
Thousands of Pakistanis joined angry street protests earlier this spring over the alleged desecration of the Quran by interrogators at a U.S. military prison in Guantanamo, Bay, Cuba. Desecration of the holy book carries the death penalty in Pakistan.
According to the known facts, as related by Bhatti, the violence and destruction is the result of an accusation against Yousaf Masih, a resident of the Christian colony of Basti Asyia, Sangla Hill, who was alleged by Muslim men of burning the Koran on November 11, 2005.
In an e-mail report to ANS, Bhatti says that Yousaf Masih, a Christian married man, runs a cattle business and was gambling with some Muslim men at the stadium of Sangla Hills and won the game.
Soon after he left the place where the game took place, a fire broke out in the library of Koran Mahal, where Islamic religious books were kept. The wall of the library adjoins the stadium, but the fire -- which started within the library -- burned the Islamic books, including the Koran.
Bhatti explained: "The Muslim men, who lost in gambling, accused Yousaf Masih of deliberately setting the library on fire. The news spread like a fire in a jungle, about which a few Christians inquired about Yousaf Masih and his involvement, but he totally denied the allegation placed upon him."
A blasphemy case was registered in the city police Sungla Hill, under 295 B (blasphemy law) against Yousaf Masih for desecrating the Koran and setting the library with Muslim books on fire. However, Yousaf Masih was not arrested at that time.
The incident infuriated Muslim extremists and announcements were made in the mosque regarding the incidents of Blasphemy, said Bhatti.
"Apprehending the seriousness of situation, local Christian community leaders along with Catholic parish priest informed the police authorities and requested for security to avert any violence that may erupt in the wake of blasphemy incident, but no measures were taken by the police to prevent an unfavorable situation," Bhatti said.
Bhatti reports: "After morning prayers the next day, once again announcements were made in the Mosques, calling Muslim men to attack the blasphemers and infidels (Christians) for insulting the Koran and to punish them. The announcement incited the Muslim mob, which gathered at the main Jamia Mosque Rizvi along with Muslims of surrounding areas and marched towards a Christian residential area, while they chanted slogans.
"The angry Muslim rioters hurled stones and attacked Christian houses and Churches. They destroyed and burned the Presbyterian Church, Catholic Church, Christian School and hostel, Parish house and the houses of Christian residents including Yousaf Masih's house. The angry mob set Bibles, Christian literature, books, the church cross and other sacred material on fire and within minutes the Christian residential area was blazing. Christian residents fled to save their lives," Bhatti said.
A team from APMA was immediately dispatched on receiving the tragic news and is on the site to help control the situation, together with higher government and police authorities contacted to avert any further mishap.
Bhatti requests: "Kindly pray for the Christians of Sangla Hill, being vandalized, attacked and victimized by the angry Muslim mob."
http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/s05110071.htm
Christians Under Siege In Pakistan After Riot
Local police and the Christian community agreed on how the violence began: a Christian man had spent several days gambling with Muslim men and had won a small fortune.Embittered, his opponents spread the rumour that he had set fire to the koran mahal, a box for preserving torn pages of the Koran. Soon the alleged deed was broadcast by mullahs from mosques.
FULL STORY at
Anti-Christian Rampage Features 2,000 Muslims
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47380